In our first week of math we learned about prime numbers and the number system. On Friday we learned about the number system and how to organize numbers into real, rational, integer, whole, natural, and irrational numbers.
Real numbers are represented by R, rational numbers are represented by Q, irrational by a Q with a line above it, integers by I, whole numbers by W, and natural numbers by N.
A real number is any number that actually exists and includes any rational or irrational number, rational numbers are either repeating or terminating and can be expressed as a fraction like 1/3 or 5.67, while irrational numbers like pi or the square root of 2 cannot be expressed as fractions because they are non-terminating and non-repeating. An integer is a rational number that has no decimals numbers like -23 or -25, below integers are whole numbers which are any integers that aren’t negative like 0 or 5. Finally natural numbers which are any whole number that isn’t 0.
I always love gaining new understandings for things I know so learning how to sort numbers into categories like this was quite intriguing and fun.