Chapter 01

Types of Numbers

T. G. M. Madushani
B.Sc. ( Industrial Mathematics –Rajarata) 1
Content
• Natural numbers
• Whole numbers
• Integers
• Fractions
• Rational numbers
• Irrational numbers
• Real numbers
• Prime number
• Composite number 2
Natural Numbers
The most familiar numbers are the natural. Natural numbers or
counting numbers are the most basic type of numbers which you
learned for the first time as a toddler. They start from 1 and go to
infinity, i.e. 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, and so on. They are also called positive
integers. In the set form, they can be written as {1, 2, 3, 4, 5, …}.
Natural numbers are represented by the symbol N.

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Whole Numbers
Whole numbers are the set of natural numbers, including
zero. This means they start from 0 and go up to 1, 2, 3, and
so on, i.e. {0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, …}. Whole numbers are
represented by the symbol W

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Integers
Integers are the set of all whole numbers and the negatives of
natural numbers. They contain all the numbers which lie
between negative infinity and positive infinity. They can be
positive, zero, or negative, but cannot be written in decimal or
fraction. Integers can be written in set form as {…, -3, -2, -1, 0, 1,
2, 3, …}. We can say that all whole numbers and natural
numbers are integers, but not all integers are natural numbers
or whole numbers. Integers are represented by the symbol Z.

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Fractions
A fraction represents parts of a whole piece. It can be written in the
form a/b, where both a and b are whole numbers and b can never be
equal to 0. All fractions are rational numbers, but not all rational numbers
are fractions. Fractions are further reduced to proper and improper
fractions. Improper fractions are ones in which the numerator is greater
than the denominator while the opposite is true in proper functions, i.e.
denominator is greater than numerator. Examples of proper fractions are
3/7 and 99/101, while 7/3 and 101/99 are improper fractions. This
means the improper fractions are always greater than 1. All terminating
decimals and repeating decimals can be written as fractions. The
terminating decimal 1.25 can be written as 125/100 = 5/4. A repeating 6

decimal 0.3333 can be written as 1/3.

Rational Numbers
Rational numbers are ones which can be written in fraction form. The
word “rational” is derived from the word, “ratio”, as rational numbers are
the ratios of the two integers. For example, 0.7 is a rational number
because it can be written as 7/10. Other examples of rational numbers
are -1/3, 2/5, 99/100, 1.57, etc. Consider a rational number p/q,
where p and q are two integers. Here, the numerator p can be any integer
(positive or negative), but the denominator q can never be 0, as the
fraction is undefined then. Also, if q = 1, then the fraction is an integer.
Rational numbers are represented by the symbol Q.

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Irrational numbers
Irrational numbers are those which cannot be written in fraction
form, i.e., they cannot be written as the ratio of the two integers.
A few examples of irrational numbers are √2, √5, …, π, and so on.
You can see that the digits in irrational numbers continue for
infinity with no repeating pattern. Irrational numbers are
represented by the symbol 𝑸′

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Real numbers
Real numbers are the set of all rational and irrational numbers.
This includes all the numbers which can be written in the
decimal form. All integers are real numbers, but not all real
numbers are integers. Real numbers include all the integers,
whole numbers, fractions, repeating decimals, terminating
decimals, and so on. Real numbers are represented by the
symbol R.

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Prime Numbers
Prime numbers are the positive integers having only two
factors, 1 and the integer itself. For example, factors of 6 are 1,2,3
and 6, which are four factors in total. But factors of 7 are only 1
and 7, totally two. Hence, 7 is a prime number but 6 is not,
instead it is a composite number.

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Composite Numbers
In math, composite numbers can be defined as the whole
numbers that have more than two factors. Whole numbers
that are not prime are composite numbers, because they are
divisible by more than two numbers.

But always remember that 1 is neither prime nor

composite.

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Questions
1. What are the five rational numbers between 1
and 2?

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2. Show that 0.3333… = 0 3, can be expressed in
the form of rational number, i.e. p/q.

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3. Write the following in decimal form and mention
what expansion it is. (hint: terminating or repeating)

i. 36/100

ii. 1/11

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Summary

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Thank You

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