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Natural Num

This document discusses natural numbers and their properties. It defines natural numbers as the numbers used for counting (1, 2, 3, etc.). Some definitions include 0 as the first natural number, while others start at 1. Natural numbers are the basis for building other number sets by extending them, such as integers, rational numbers, real numbers, and complex numbers. Properties of natural numbers are studied in number theory, while problems involving counting and ordering are studied in combinatorics.

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Azreen Anis azmi
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86 views

Natural Num

This document discusses natural numbers and their properties. It defines natural numbers as the numbers used for counting (1, 2, 3, etc.). Some definitions include 0 as the first natural number, while others start at 1. Natural numbers are the basis for building other number sets by extending them, such as integers, rational numbers, real numbers, and complex numbers. Properties of natural numbers are studied in number theory, while problems involving counting and ordering are studied in combinatorics.

Uploaded by

Azreen Anis azmi
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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This article is about "positive integers" and "non-negative integers". For all the numbers ...

, −2, −1, 0,
1, 2, ..., see Integer.

Natural numbers can be used for counting (one apple, two apples, three apples, …)

In mathematics, the natural numbers are those used for counting (as in "there are six coins on the


table") and ordering (as in "this is the third largest city in the country"). In common mathematical
terminology, words colloquially used for counting are "cardinal numbers" and words connected to
ordering represent "ordinal numbers". The natural numbers can, at times, appear as a convenient
set of codes (labels or "names"); that is, as what linguists call nominal numbers, forgoing many or all
of the properties of being a number in a mathematical sense.
Some definitions, including the standard ISO 80000-2,[1][2] begin the natural numbers with 0,
corresponding to the non-negative integers 0, 1, 2, 3, …, whereas others start with 1,
corresponding to the positive integers 1, 2, 3, …,[3][4] while others acknowledge both definitions.
[5]
 Texts that exclude zero from the natural numbers sometimes refer to the natural numbers together
with zero as the whole numbers, but in other writings, that term is used instead for the integers
(including negative integers).[6]
The natural numbers are a basis from which many other number sets may be built by extension:
the integers (Grothendieck group), by including (if not yet in) the neutral element 0 and an additive
inverse (−n) for each nonzero natural number n; the rational numbers, by including a multiplicative
inverse (1/n) for each nonzero integer n (and also the product of these inverses by integers); the real
numbers by including with the rationals the limits of (converging) Cauchy sequences of rationals;
the complex numbers, by including with the real numbers the unresolved square root of minus
one (and also the sums and products thereof); and so on. [7][8] These chains of extensions make the
natural numbers canonically embedded (identified) in the other number systems.
Properties of the natural numbers, such as divisibility and the distribution of prime numbers, are
studied in number theory. Problems concerning counting and ordering, such
as partitioning and enumerations, are studied in combinatorics.
In common language, for example in primary school, natural numbers may be called counting
numbers[9] both to intuitively exclude the negative integers and zero, and also to contrast
the discreteness of counting to the continuity of measurement, established by the real numbers.

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