Explore: Rational Numbers

⁠ is a rational number, as is every integer (for example, − 5 = − 5 1 {\displaystyle -5={\tfrac {-5}{1}}} ). The set of all rational numbers is often

numbers N {\displaystyle \mathbb {N} } is a subset of Z {\displaystyle \mathbb {Z} } , which in turn is a subset of the set of all rational numbers Q

power of two. For example, 1/2, 3/2, and 3/8 are dyadic rationals, but 1/3 is not. These numbers are important in computer science because they are the

integers are rational, but there are rational numbers that are not integers, such as −2/9. Real numbers ( R {\displaystyle \mathbb {R} } ): Numbers that correspond

zero (0), negative numbers, rational numbers such as one half ( 1 2 ) {\displaystyle \left({\tfrac {1}{2}}\right)} , real numbers such as the square root

natural numbers are widely used as a building block for other number systems including the integers, rational numbers and real numbers. Natural numbers are

division are defined and behave as the corresponding operations on rational and real numbers. A field is thus a fundamental algebraic structure which is widely

distinguishes real numbers from imaginary numbers such as the square roots of −1. The real numbers include the rational numbers, such as the integer

mathematics, the irrational numbers are all the real numbers that are not rational numbers. That is, irrational numbers cannot be expressed as the ratio

numbers are not countable, computers cannot represent them exactly using a finite amount of information. Most often, a computer will use a rational approximation