UnderstandingAlgebra

JamesW.Brennan

HOME
BACK

THEREALNUMBERSYSTEM
Therealnumbersystemevolvedovertimebyexpandingthenotionofwhatwemeanbytheword
number.Atfirst,numbermeantsomethingyoucouldcount,likehowmanysheepafarmer
owns.Thesearecalledthenaturalnumbers,orsometimesthecountingnumbers.
NaturalNumbers
orCountingNumbers
1,2,3,4,5,...
Theuseofthreedotsattheendofthelistisacommonmathematicalnotationtoindicate
thatthelistkeepsgoingforever.
Atsomepoint,theideaofzerocametobeconsideredasanumber.Ifthefarmerdoesnothave
anysheep,thenthenumberofsheepthatthefarmerownsiszero.Wecallthesetofnatural
numbersplusthenumberzerothewholenumbers.
WholeNumbers
NaturalNumberstogetherwithzero
0,1,2,3,4,5,...

AbouttheNumberZero

Whatiszero?Isitanumber?Howcanthenumberofnothingbea
number?Iszeronothing,orisitsomething?
Well,beforethisstartstosoundlikeaZenkoan,letslookathowweuse
thenumeral0.ArabandIndianscholarswerethefirsttousezeroto
developtheplacevaluenumbersystemthatweusetoday.Whenwewrite
anumber,weuseonlythetennumerals0,1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,and9.These
numeralscanstandforones,tens,hundreds,orwhateverdependingon
theirpositioninthenumber.Inorderforthistowork,wehavetohavea
waytomarkanemptyplaceinanumber,ortheplacevalueswontcome
outright.Thisiswhatthenumeral0does.Thinkofitasanempty
container,signifyingthatthatplaceisempty.Forexample,thenumber302
has3hundreds,notens,and2ones.
Soiszeroanumber?Well,thatisamatterofdefinition,butin
mathematicswetendtocallitaduckifitactslikeaduck,oratleastifits
behaviorismostlyducklike.Thenumberzeroobeysmostofthesame
rulesofarithmeticthatordinarynumbersdo,sowecallitanumber.Itisa
ratherspecialnumber,though,becauseitdoesntquiteobeyallthesame

lawsasothernumbersyoucantdividebyzero,forexample.
Noteformathpurists:Inthestrictaxiomaticfielddevelopmentofthereal
numbers,both0and1aresingledoutforspecialtreatment.Zeroisthe
additiveidentity,becauseaddingzerotoanumberdoesnotchangethe
number.Similarly,1isthemultiplicativeidentitybecausemultiplyinga
numberby1doesnotchangeit.

Evenmoreabstractthanzeroistheideaofnegativenumbers.If,inadditiontonothavingany
sheep,thefarmerowessomeone3sheep,youcouldsaythatthenumberofsheepthatthefarmer
ownsisnegative3.Ittooklongerfortheideaofnegativenumberstobeaccepted,buteventually
theycametobeseenassomethingwecouldcallnumbers.Theexpandedsetofnumbersthatwe
getbyincludingnegativeversionsofthecountingnumbersiscalledtheintegers.
Integers
Wholenumbersplusnegatives
...4,3,2,1,0,1,2,3,4,...

AboutNegativeNumbers

Howcanyouhavelessthanzero?Well,doyouhaveacheckingaccount?
Havinglessthanzeromeansthatyouhavetoaddsometoitjusttogetitup
tozero.Andifyoutakemoreoutofit,itwillbeevenfurtherlessthan
zero,meaningthatyouwillhavetoaddevenmorejusttogetituptozero.
Thestrictmathematicaldefinitiongoessomethinglikethis:
Foreveryrealnumbern,thereexistsitsopposite,denoted
n,suchthatthesumofnandniszero,or
n+(n)=0
Notethatthenegativesigninfrontofanumberispartofthesymbolfor
thatnumber:Thesymbol3isoneobjectitstandsfornegative
three,thenameofthenumberthatisthreeunitslessthanzero.
Thenumberzeroisitsownopposite,andzeroisconsideredtobeneither
negativenorpositive.
Readthediscussionofsubtractionformoreaboutthemeaningsofthe
symbol.

Thenextgeneralizationthatwecanmakeistoincludetheideaoffractions.Whileitisunlikely
thatafarmerownsafractionalnumberofsheep,manyotherthingsinreallifearemeasuredin
fractions,likeahalfcupofsugar.Ifweaddfractionstothesetofintegers,wegetthesetof
rationalnumbers.

RationalNumbers
Allnumbersoftheform

,whereaandbareintegers(butbcannotbezero)

Rationalnumbersincludewhatweusuallycallfractions
Noticethatthewordrationalcontainsthewordratio,whichshouldremindyouof
fractions.

Thebottomofthefractioniscalledthedenominator.Thinkofitasthedenominationittellsyou
whatsizefractionwearetalkingabout:fourths,fifths,etc.

Thetopofthefractioniscalledthenumerator.Ittellsyouhowmanyfourths,fifths,orwhatever.

RESTRICTION:Thedenominatorcannotbezero!(Butthenumeratorcan)
Ifthenumeratoriszero,thenthewholefractionisjustequaltozero.IfIhavezerothirdsorzero
fourths,thanIdonthaveanything.However,itmakesnosenseatalltotalkaboutafraction
measuredinzeroths.
Fractionscanbenumberssmallerthan1,like1/2or3/4(calledproperfractions),orthey
canbenumbersbiggerthan1(calledimproperfractions),liketwoandahalf,whichwe
couldalsowriteas5/2
Allintegerscanalsobethoughtofasrationalnumbers,withadenominatorof1:

Thismeansthatalltheprevioussetsofnumbers(naturalnumbers,wholenumbers,andintegers)
aresubsetsoftherationalnumbers.
Nowitmightseemasthoughthesetofrationalnumberswouldcovereverypossiblecase,butthat
isnotso.Therearenumbersthatcannotbeexpressedasafraction,andthesenumbersarecalled
irrationalbecausetheyarenotrational.
IrrationalNumbers
Cannotbeexpressedasaratioofintegers.
Asdecimalstheyneverrepeatorterminate(rationalsalwaysdooneortheother)
Examples:
Rational(terminates)
Rational(repeats)
Rational(repeats)
Rational(repeats)

Irrational(neverrepeatsorterminates)
Irrational(neverrepeatsorterminates)

MoreonIrrationalNumbers

Itmightseemthattherationalnumberswouldcoveranypossiblenumber.
Afterall,ifImeasurealengthwitharuler,itisgoingtocomeouttosome
fractionmaybe2and3/4inches.SupposeIthenmeasureitwithmore
precision.Iwillgetsomethinglike2and5/8inches,ormaybe2and
23/32inches.ItseemsthathowevercloseIlookitisgoingtobesome
fraction.However,thisisnotalwaysthecase.
Imaginealinesegmentexactly
oneunitlong:

Nowdrawanotherlineone
unitlong,perpendiculartothe
firstone,likethis:

Nowdrawthediagonal
connectingthetwoends:

Congratulations!Youhavejustdrawnalengththatcannotbemeasured
byanyrationalnumber.AccordingtothePythagoreanTheorem,the
lengthofthisdiagonalisthesquarerootof2thatis,thenumberwhich
whenmultipliedbyitselfgives2.
Accordingtomycalculator,

Butmycalculatoronlystopsatelevendecimalplacesbecauseitcanhold
nomore.Thisnumberactuallygoesonforeverpastthedecimalpoint,
withoutthepatterneverterminatingorrepeating.

Thisisbecauseifthepatterneverstoppedorrepeated,youcouldwritethe
numberasafractionanditcanbeproventhatthesquarerootof2can
neverbewrittenas

foranychoiceofintegersforaandb.Theproofofthiswasconsidered
quiteshockingwhenitwasfirstdemonstratedbythefollowersof
Pythagoras26centuriesago.

TheRealNumbers
Rationals+Irrationals
Allpointsonthenumberline
Orallpossibledistancesonthenumberline
Whenweputtheirrationalnumberstogetherwiththerationalnumbers,wefinallyhavethe
completesetofrealnumbers.Anynumberthatrepresentsanamountofsomething,suchasa
weight,avolume,orthedistancebetweentwopoints,willalwaysbearealnumber.Thefollowing
diagramillustratestherelationshipsofthesetsthatmakeuptherealnumbers.

AnOrderedSet
Therealnumbershavethepropertythattheyareordered,whichmeansthatgivenanytwo
differentnumberswecanalwayssaythatoneisgreaterorlessthantheother.Amoreformalway

ofsayingthisis:
Foranytworealnumbersaandb,oneandonlyoneofthefollowingthreestatementsistrue:
1.aislessthanb,(expressedasa<b)
2.aisequaltob,(expressedasa=b)
3.aisgreaterthanb,(expressedasa>b)
TheNumberLine
Theorderednatureoftherealnumbersletsusarrangethemalongaline(imaginethatthelineis
madeupofaninfinitenumberofpointsallpackedsocloselytogetherthattheyformasolidline).
Thepointsareorderedsothatpointstotherightaregreaterthanpointstotheleft:

Everyrealnumbercorrespondstoadistanceonthenumberline,startingatthecenter(zero).
Negativenumbersrepresentdistancestotheleftofzero,andpositivenumbersaredistances
totheright.
Thearrowsontheendindicatethatitkeepsgoingforeverinbothdirections.
AbsoluteValue
Whenwewanttotalkabouthowlargeanumberiswithoutregardastowhetheritispositiveor
negative,weusetheabsolutevaluefunction.Theabsolutevalueofanumberisthedistancefrom
thatnumbertotheorigin(zero)onthenumberline.Thatdistanceisalwaysgivenasanon
negativenumber.
Inshort:
Ifanumberispositive(orzero),theabsolutevaluefunctiondoesnothingtoit:
Ifanumberisnegative,theabsolutevaluefunctionmakesitpositive:
WARNING:Ifthereisarithmetictodoinsidetheabsolutevaluesign,youmustdoitbeforetaking
theabsolutevaluetheabsolutevaluefunctionactsontheresultofwhateverisinsideit.For
example,acommonerroris
(WRONG)
Thecorrectresultis

[Home][Next]
BACK

copyright19982002
JamesW.Brennan