Numbers - Definition, Types, Properties, Operations, & Examples
Numbers - Definition, Types, Properties, Operations, & Examples
Numbers are the most fundamental thing invented by mankind to serve its
vast variety of endeavors in science and technology. From sending rockets to
Mars to calculating bills for groceries, numbers are used everywhere.
Nowadays, we can’t think of mathematics without numbers. There are
different types of numbers like natural numbers, integers, rational numbers,
irrational numbers, real numbers, complex numbers, prime numbers,
composite numbers, algebraic numbers, transcendental numbers, even and
odd numbers, and many, many more.
Number Definition
Numbers are a much-needed progression of the tally marks or counting on
fingers, as numbers are the fundamental units of mathematics, without
which we can’t imagine mathematics as it exists today. We use numbers to
represent different quantities or values, such as weight, length, and time.
History of Numbers
The early brain of humans was capable of grasping the concept of numbers,
such that they could see how many cattle they owned or how much food
would suffice for the community, but the present-day concept of numbers
and counting is foreign to them. It was believed by scientists that the idea of
numbers and counting originally originated in ancient societies such as
Egypt, Mesopotamia, and India.
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During the evolution of humans, a lot of different numerical systems were
developed by humans in different parts of the world, and as the world
became more connected, these systems travelled with people from one
continent to another. One such numerical system, i.e., the Indian numeral
system, travelled to countries in the Middle East and Europe and laid the
foundation stone for the modern-day decimal system.
After reaching the Middle East, Arabic academics and scholars made
noteworthy contributions to the growth of mathematics during the Middle
Ages, including the usage of algebra and the decimal point. Mathematicians
like John Napier and Simon Stevin introduced the ideas of decimal fractions
and logarithms, respectively, in the 16th century, which helped to simplify
complicated computations.
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With new findings and applications in disciplines like physics, engineering,
and computer science, the area of mathematics has advanced in the modern
age. Today, numbers and mathematical ideas are fundamental to many key
aspects of our everyday lives, from time and distance measurement to
money management and data analysis.
Classification of Numbers
Based on characteristics, numbers can be classified into different types, such
as:
Natural Numbers
Whole Numbers
Integers
Rational Numbers
Irrational Numbers
Real Numbers
Complex Numbers
Natural Numbers
Natural Numbers, which are thought to be the first numbers to exist, are the
most fundamental and obvious types of numbers. Natural numbers are
defined as numbers that are used for counting. The Natural Numbers are
therefore 1, 2, 3, 4, . . . and go on forever. The general representation of
Natural numbers is N, and it is widely used in textbooks for the same. The
image added below shows natural or counting numbers.
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Whole Numbers
Integers
When the use of negative numbers was popularized, they were very useful
for many real-life use cases, such as debt-oriented calculations. Integers
came into existence, as these are collections of whole numbers as well as
the negative of each natural number, i.e., . . . -4, -3, -2, -1, 0, 1, 2, 3, 4, . . .,
and these go forever on both sides. Integers are represented by Z.
Rational Numbers
There was a problem in ancient Egypt with how to represent half or one-
third of something in the records, so they came up with the solution known
as fractions, and these fractions further evolved into Rational Numbers as
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The image added below shows the rational and irrational number
Irrational Numbers
Also there was a dark story about it that goes like one of the
Pythagoras’s disciple named Hippasus of Metapontum proved the
existence of irrational numbers representing √2 as fraction and
proofing that it is a contradiction but Pythagoras believed in the
absoluteness of numbers and couldn’t accept the existence of irrational
number but he also didn’t able to disproof logically that irrational
numbers doesn’t exist. So, he sentenced Hippasus’ death by drowning
to impede the spread of such things which were against the
philosophies of Pythagoras.
Real Numbers
Imaginary Numbers
For a long period of time, people thought that the number system was
incomplete and needed some new sort of numbers to complete it, as there
was no solution to the equation x2+a=0(where a>0) in real numbers, but we
now know by the fundamental theorem of algebra that every polynomial of
degree n needs to have n roots. So there must be a new sort of number
needed to find the solution to the above equation.
A new symbol, “i(iota)” was used by Euler first for -1 so he could easily
represent an imaginary number without writing √-1 repetitively, and it
spread across the world and became second nature to use “i” for √-1.
Numbers that give a negative value when squared are generally called
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Imaginary Numbers. Some examples of these numbers are √-21(which can
be written as √-1×√21 or i√21), i, 2i, etc.
Complex Numbers
The set of numbers is discussed in the image added below which explains
that all the numbers known to humans are the subset of complex numbers.
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Numbers in Words
Representation of numerical values in the form of words is referred to as
Numbers in Word. In this representation each digit of a number is replaced
by a word, for example, the number 231 is represented as “two hundred
thirty-one”.
But in the international system, digits are separated according to their place
value, and the names of successive higher numbers are as follows: one, ten,
hundred, thousand, ten thousand, hundred thousand, million, ten million,
hundred million, billion, etc.
1 One 21 Twenty-One
2 Two 22 Twenty-Two
3 Three 23 Twenty-Three
4 Four 24 Twenty-Four
5 Five 25 Twenty-Five
6 Six 26 Twenty-Six
7 Seven 27 Twenty-Seven
8 Eight 28 Twenty-Eight
9 Nine 29 Twenty-Nine
10 Ten 30 Thirty
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11 Eleven 31 Thirty-One
12 Twelve 32 Thirty-Two
13 Thirteen 33 Thirty-Three
14 Fourteen 34 Thirty-Four
15 Fifteen 35 Thirty-Five
16 Sixteen 36 Thirty-Six
17 Seventeen 37 Thirty-Seven
18 Eighteen 38 Thirty-Eight
19 Nineteen 39 Thirty-Nine
20 Twenty 40 Forty
Operations on Numbers
Operations on Numbers are the most fundaments building block of
mathematics and are used to manipulate numerical values. These operations
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Division
Multiplication
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Addition
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The addition is the most basic operation which combines two or more
numbers to get a sum. For example, 2 + 3 = 5, 3+1/2=7/2, 2.14 + 3.73 =
5.87, etc. The image added below shows the addition between 21 + 3 = 24.
Subtraction
Subtraction is used for finding the difference between two numbers. For
example, 6 – 4 = 2, 3-1.5 = 1.5, 3/2-1/3 = 7/3, etc. The image added below
shows the addition between 21 – 3 = 18.
Types of Numbers
Apart from the above types, there are some types of numbers that are based
on the properties of the numbers. Some of these numbers are,
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Even and Odd Numbers
Prime and Composite Numbers
Co Prime Numbers
Perfect Numbers
Algebraic and Transcendental Numbers
Cardinal Numbers are the same as natural numbers as they were defined as
sequentially going numbers that start from 1 and go on forever i.e. 1, 2, 3, 4,
. . . and so on.
An ordinal Number is a number that shows the exact position or the order of
the object in the sequence. For example first, second, third, and so on. The
Cardinal and Ordinal Numbers from 1 to 10 are discussed in the image
below,
For all the integers, it is true that either they are divisible by 2 or they are not
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numbers, and those that are not divisible by 2 are called odd numbers. The
image added below shows the Even Numbers.
Coprime Numbers
Some more examples of coprime pairs are 12 and 25, 8 and 15, 24 and 35,
etc. The following image shows how 21 and 22 are co-prime numbers.
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Perfect Numbers
Perfect numbers are those natural numbers whose sum of divisors excluding
themselves is equal to the number itself, i.e., if we calculate the sum of
divisors of a number excluding itself and it comes out to be the same as the
original number, then that number is called a Perfect Numbers. For example,
consider 6, whose divisors are 1, 2, and 3, and whose sum is 6. Thus, 6 is the
Perfect Number and its image is added below,
All the numbers mentioned above are examples of Algebraic Numbers that
are defined as the solutions of some algebraic equations, i.e., Algebraic
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equations. For example, the solution of x2+1=0 is ±√-1, which is an algebraic
number. Some other examples are all the real numbers as well as complex
numbers.
On the other hand, all such numbers which can’t be found as a solution to
some algebraic equation are called Transcendental Numbers. Some of the
most famous examples of Transcendental Numbers are π(pi) and e(Euler’s
number)
Prime Factorisation
Expressing any composite number as the product of prime numbers is called
prime factorization. The prime factorization of a number “x” can be found
easily by dividing x by the smallest possible prime number and then
repeating the process until the quotient is either a prime number or 1. For
example, prime factorization of 12 = 2×2×3 or 22×3. Some more examples
are 15 = 5×3, 33=3×11, 42=2×3×7, etc. The prime factor of 18 is discussed
in the image below.
HCF
HCF (Highest Common Factor) is the largest possible number that can divide
two or more numbers without leaving any remainder. HCF is also called
Greatest Common DIvisior. For example, 6 is the HCF of 12 and 18, 12 is the
HCF of 12 and 24, 7 is the HCF of 14 and 21, etc. The image discussed
below shows the HCF of 12 and 18.
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LCM
LCM (Lowest Common Multiple) of any two or more numbers is the smallest
possible number when divisible by all the given numbers, yields a remainder
of 0. In other words, the LCM of any two or more numbers is the smallest
common multiple of all numbers. For example, the LCM of 12 and 14 is 84,
LCM(21, 24) = 168, LCM(42, 122) = 2562, etc. The image discussed below
shows the LCM of 4 and 6.
Number System
The Number System is the set of guidelines that gives meaning to
expressions written in that number system. For example, if we want to
express that we have ten dogs, in the decimal number system we would
write “10 dogs,” in the binary system “1010 dogs,” in the octal system “12
dogs,” and in the hexadecimal system “A dogs.” All these statements
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Any Number System needs two things to express all the numbers we want
it to represent. First are the symbols (generally all number systems that
need less than or equal to 10 symbols use modern-day decimal numerals),
and the second is the base (which is the number of required symbols). For
example, in the decimal number system, there are ten symbols, so its base is
10.
The Decimal Number System is the most used number system out of all.
There are 10 digits in this number system, which are 0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8,
and 9. The decimal numbers are represented as,
In the Binary Number System, there are only two digits, and using those, we
express all the numbers. The most common numerals for the Binary System
are 0 and 1, but we can use any pair of symbols to represent the same as
long as the symbols are well-defined. For example, 10010001, 11011001,
and 1010 are some examples of binary numbers which in decimals
represent 145, 217, and 10 respectively.
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Octal Number System
In the Octal Number System, there are only 8 digits or symbols which are
generally represented with modern-day decimal symbols by only up to 7 i.e.,
0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7. Using these 8 symbols we can write and express all the
numbers. For example, 231, 41, and 653 are some examples of octal
numbers which in decimals represent 153, 33, and 427 respectively. The
digits used in the Octal Number system are shown in the image below,
Properties of Numbers
There are some properties that different types of numbers have with
different defined operations such as addition or multiplication, and those
properties are as follows,
Commutative Property
Associative Property
Distributive Property
Identity Property
Inverse Property
Reflexive Property
Symmetric Property
Transitive Property
Commutative Property
For any two numbers a and b, for any operation ×, if a×b=b×a, then × is
commutative for those sets of numbers. For example, addition and
multiplication of all complex numbers hold the commutative property but
with subtraction and division, they don’t hold commutative property.
Associative Property
Distributive Property
Inverse Property
The Inverse is the uniquely defined number for each number with respect to
some operation, such that when operating any number with its inverse, the
output is an identity for that operation. In other words, for some number a
and operation ×, where e is the identity, if a×b=e then b is called the inverse
of a with respect to operation ×. For example, -1 is the inverse of 1 under
addition as 1+(-1) = 0 (0 is the identity of addition), and 1/2 is the inverse of
2 under multiplication as 1/2×2=1(1 is the identity of multiplication).
Answer:
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FAQs on Numbers
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Answer:
Answer:
There are 25 prime numbers between 1 and 100, and those are 2, 3, 5,
7, 11, 13, 17, 19, 23, 29, 31, 37, 41, 43, 47, 53, 59, 61, 67, 71, 73, 79,
83, 89, 97.
Q3: How many odd numbers are there between 32 and 53?
Answer:
Thus list of all odd numbers between 32 and 53 are 33, 35, 37, 39, 41,
43, 45, 47, 49, 51.
Answer:
The numbers which are used for the countings are called the natural
numbers e.g of natural numbers are 1, 2, 3, …. We represent natural
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number by N.
Answer:
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