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Forotheruses,seeNumber(disambiguation).
Anumberisamathematicalobjectusedtocount,measure,andlabel.[citationneeded]Theoriginal
examplesarethenaturalnumbers1,2,3,andsoforth.Anotationalsymbolthatrepresentsanumberis
calledanumeral.Inadditiontotheiruseincountingandmeasuring,numeralsareoftenusedfor
labels(aswithtelephonenumbers),forordering(aswithserialnumbers),andforcodes(as
withISBNs).Incommonusage,numbermayrefertoasymbol,aword,oramathematicalabstraction.
Inmathematics,thenotionofnumberhasbeenextendedoverthecenturiestoinclude0,negative
numbers,rationalnumberssuchas

and

whichextendtherealnumbersbyincluding

,realnumberssuchas

and ,complexnumbers,

,andsometimesadditionalobjects.Calculationswith

Subsetsofthecomplexnumbers.

numbersaredonewitharithmeticaloperations,themostfamiliar
beingaddition,subtraction,multiplication,division,andexponentiation.Theirstudyorusageis
calledarithmetic.Thesametermmayalsorefertonumbertheory,thestudyofthepropertiesofthenaturalnumbers.

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Besidestheirpracticaluses,numbershaveculturalsignificancethroughouttheworld.[1][2]Forexample,inWesternsocietythenumber13is

Specialpages

regardedasunlucky,and"amillion"maysignify"alot."[1]Thoughitisnowregardedaspseudoscience,numerology,thebeliefinamystical

Permanentlink

significanceofnumberspermeatedancientandmedievalthought.[3]NumerologyheavilyinfluencedthedevelopmentofGreekmathematics,

Pageinformation

stimulatingtheinvestigationofmanyproblemsinnumbertheorywhicharestillofinteresttoday.[3]

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Duringthe19thcentury,mathematiciansbegantodevelopmanydifferentabstractionswhichsharecertainpropertiesofnumbersandmaybe
seenasextendingtheconcept.Amongthefirstwerethehypercomplexnumbers,whichconsistofvariousextensionsormodificationsofthe
complexnumbersystem.Today,numbersystemsareconsideredimportantspecialexamplesofmuchmoregeneralcategoriessuch
asringsandfields,andtheapplicationoftheterm"number"isamatterofconvention,withoutfundamentalsignificance.[4]

Printableversion
Inotherprojects
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Afrikaans
Alemannisch

Contents[hide]
1 Numerals
2 Mainclassification
2.1 Naturalnumbers
2.2 Integers

2.3 Rationalnumbers

nglisc

2.4 Realnumbers

Aragons

Armneashti

Asturianu
Avae'
Azrbaycanca

BahasaBanjar
Bn-lm-g

()

Boarisch

2.5 Complexnumbers
3 Subclassesoftheintegers
3.1 Evenandoddnumbers
3.2 Primenumbers
3.3 Otherclassesofintegers
4 Subclassesofthecomplexnumbers
4.1 Algebraic,irrationalandtranscendentalnumbers
4.2 Computablenumbers
5 Extensionsoftheconcept
5.1 padicnumbers
5.2 Hypercomplexnumbers
5.3 Transfinitenumbers
5.4 Nonstandardnumbers
6 History
6.1 Firstuseofnumbers

Bosanski

6.2 Zero

Brezhoneg

6.3 Negativenumbers

6.4 Rationalnumbers

Catal

6.5 Irrationalnumbers

6.6 Transcendentalnumbersandreals

etina

6.7 Infinityandinfinitesimals

ChiShona
Choctaw
Cymraeg

6.8 Complexnumbers
6.9 Primenumbers

Dansk

7 Seealso

Deutsch

8 Notes

Eesti

9 References

Emilinerumagnl

10 Externallinks

Espaol
Esperanto
Euskara

Froyskt
Franais

Numerals

[ edit ]

Mainarticle:Numeralsystem
Numbersshouldbedistinguishedfromnumerals,thesymbolsusedtorepresentnumbers.BoyershowedthatEgyptianscreatedthefirst
cipherednumeralsystem.[citationneeded]GreeksfollowedbymappingtheircountingnumbersontoIonianandDoricalphabets.Thenumberfive

Frysk

canberepresentedbydigit"5"orbytheRomannumeral"".Notationsusedtorepresentnumbersarediscussedinthearticlenumeral

Fulfulde

systems.Animportantdevelopmentinthehistoryofnumeralswasthedevelopmentofapositionalsystem,likemoderndecimals,whichhave

Gaeilge

manyadvantages,suchasrepresentinglargenumberswithonlyafewsymbols.TheRomannumeralsrequireextrasymbolsforlarger

Gidhlig

numbers.

Galego

Hausa

Mainclassification

[ edit ]

"Numbersystem"redirectshere.Forsystemsforexpressingnumbers,seeNumeralsystem.
Seealso:Listoftypesofnumbers

Differenttypesofnumbershavemanydifferentuses.Numberscanbeclassifiedintosets,callednumbersystems,suchasthenatural

Hrvatski

numbersandtherealnumbers.Thesamenumbercanbewritteninmanydifferentways.Fordifferentmethodsofexpressingnumberswith

Ido

symbols,suchastheRomannumerals,seenumeralsystems.

Ilokano

Mainnumbersystems

BahasaIndonesia

0,1,2,3,4,...or1,2,3,4,...

Interlingua

Natural

or

aresometimesused.

slenska
Italiano

BasaJawa

Integer

...,5,4,3,2,1,0,1,2,3,4,5,...

Rational

a
b whereaandbareintegersandbisnot0

Real

Thelimitofaconvergentsequenceofrational
numbers

Complex

a+biwhereaandbarerealnumbersandiis
thesquarerootof1

Kiswahili
Kreylayisyen
Kurd

Latina
Latvieu
Lietuvi

Naturalnumbers

[ edit ]

Mainarticle:Naturalnumber
Themostfamiliarnumbersarethenaturalnumbers(sometimescalledwholenumbersorcounting
numbers):1,2,3,andsoon.Traditionally,thesequenceofnaturalnumbersstartedwith1(0wasnot

La.lojban.

evenconsideredanumberfortheAncientGreeks.)However,inthe19thcentury,settheoristsand

Luganda

othermathematiciansstartedincluding0(cardinalityoftheemptyset,i.e.0elements,where0isthus

Magyar

thesmallestcardinalnumber)inthesetofnaturalnumbers.[5][6]Today,differentmathematiciansuse

thetermtodescribebothsets,including0ornot.Themathematicalsymbolforthesetofallnatural

Malagasy

numbersisN,alsowritten ,andsometimes

or

whenitisnecessarytoindicatewhetherthe

setshouldstartwith0or1,respectively.

BahasaMelayu

Inthebase10numeralsystem,inalmostuniversalusetodayformathematicaloperations,the

Mirands

symbolsfornaturalnumbersarewrittenusingtendigits:0,1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,and9.Inthisbase10

Nhuatl
Nederlands

system,therightmostdigitofanaturalnumberhasaplacevalueof1,andeveryotherdigithasaplace

Thenaturalnumbers,startingwith1

valuetentimesthatoftheplacevalueofthedigittoitsright.

Insettheory,whichiscapableofactingasanaxiomaticfoundationformodernmathematics,[7]natural

numberscanberepresentedbyclassesofequivalentsets.Forinstance,thenumber3canberepresentedastheclassofallsetsthathave

Nordfriisk
Norskbokml
Norsknynorsk
Nouormand
Novial
Occitan

Ozbekcha/

exactlythreeelements.Alternatively,inPeanoArithmetic,thenumber3isrepresentedassss0,wheresisthe"successor"function(i.e.,3is
thethirdsuccessorof0).Manydifferentrepresentationsarepossibleallthatisneededtoformallyrepresent3istoinscribeacertainsymbol
orpatternofsymbolsthreetimes.

Integers

[ edit ]

Mainarticle:Integer
Thenegativeofapositiveintegerisdefinedasanumberthatproduces0whenitisaddedtothecorrespondingpositiveinteger.Negative

numbersareusuallywrittenwithanegativesign(aminussign).Asanexample,thenegativeof7iswritten7,and7+(7)=0.When

thesetofnegativenumbersiscombinedwiththesetofnaturalnumbers(including0),theresultisdefinedasthesetofintegers,Zalso

Patois

written .HeretheletterZcomesfromGermanZahl,meaning"number".Thesetofintegersformsaringwiththeoperationsadditionand

Plattdtsch

multiplication.[8]

Polski
Portugus

Thenaturalnumbersformasubsetoftheintegers.Asthereisnocommonstandardfortheinclusionornotofzerointhenaturalnumbers,

Romn

thenaturalnumberswithoutzeroarecommonlyreferredtoaspositiveintegers,andthenaturalnumberswithzeroarereferredtoasnon

RunaSimi

negativeintegers.

Rationalnumbers

[ edit ]

Mainarticle:Rationalnumber

Sng

Arationalnumberisanumberthatcanbeexpressedasafractionwithanintegernumeratorandapositiveintegerdenominator.Negative

Scots

denominatorsareallowed,butarecommonlyavoided,aseveryrationalnumberisequaltoafractionwithpositivedenominator.Fractionsare

SesothosaLeboa

writtenastwointegers,thenumeratorandthedenominator,withadividingbarbetweenthem.Thefraction m
representsmpartsofawhole
n

Shqip

dividedinto equalparts.Twodifferentfractionsmaycorrespondtothesamerationalnumberforexample 1 and 2 areequal,thatis:

Sicilianu
SimpleEnglish

dividedintonequalparts.Twodifferentfractionsmaycorrespondtothesamerationalnumberforexample 12 and 24 areequal,thatis:

Slovenina
Slovenina
lnski

Iftheabsolutevalueofmisgreaterthann(supposedtobepositive),thentheabsolutevalueofthefractionisgreaterthan1.Fractionscan

Soomaaliga

begreaterthan,lessthan,orequalto1andcanalsobepositive,negative,or0.Thesetofallrationalnumbersincludestheintegers,since

everyintegercanbewrittenasafractionwithdenominator1.Forexample7canbewritten 7
.Thesymbolfortherationalnumbers
1

/srpski
Srpskohrvatski/

BasaSunda
Suomi

isQ(forquotient),alsowritten .

Realnumbers

[ edit ]

Mainarticle:Realnumber

Svenska
Tagalog

Therealnumbersincludeallthemeasuringnumbers.ThesymbolfortherealnumbersisR,alsowrittenas .Realnumbersareusually

representedbyusingdecimalnumerals,inwhichadecimalpointisplacedtotherightofthedigitwithplacevalue1.Eachdigittotherightof

Taqbaylit

thedecimalpointhasaplacevalueonetenthoftheplacevalueofthedigittoitsleft.Forexample,123.456represents 123456
,or,inwords,
1000

Tarandne
/tatara

onehundred,twotens,threeones,fourtenths,fivehundredths,andsixthousandths.Afinitedecimalrepresentationallowsustorepresent
exactlyonlytheintegersandthoserationalnumberswhosedenominatorshaveonlyprimefactorswhicharefactorsoften.Thusonehalfis
0.5,onefifthis0.2,onetenthis0.1,andonefiftiethis0.02.Torepresenttherestoftherealnumbersrequiresaninfinitesequenceofdigits

afterthedecimalpoint.Sinceitisimpossibletowriteinfinitelymanydigits,realnumbersarecommonlyrepresented

byroundingortruncatingthissequence,orbyestablishingapattern,suchas0.333...,withanellipsistoindicatethatthepatterncontinues.

Trke

Thus123.456isanapproximationofanyrealnumberbetween 1234555
and 1234565
(rounding)oranyrealnumberbetween 123456
and
10000
10000
1000

Trkmene

123457
(truncation).Negativerealnumbersarewrittenwithaprecedingminussign:123.456.
1000

Everyrationalnumberisalsoarealnumber.Itisnotthecase,however,thateveryrealnumberisrational.Arealnumber,whichisnot

Vneto

rational,iscalledirrational.Adecimalrepresentsarationalnumberifandonlyifhasafinitenumberofdigitsoreventuallyrepeatsforever,

TingVit

afteranyinitialfinitestringdigits.Forexample, 12 =0.5and 13 =0.333...(foreverrepeating3s,otherwisewritten0.3).Ontheotherhand,the

Vro

realnumber,theratioofthecircumferenceofanycircletoitsdiameter,is

Winaray

Sincethedecimalneitherendsnoreventuallyrepeatsforever(see:proofthatpiisirrational)itcannotbewrittenasafraction,andisan

exampleofanirrationalnumber.Otherirrationalnumbersinclude

Yorb

emaitka

(thesquarerootof2,thatis,thepositivenumberwhosesquareis2).

Editlinks

Justasthesamefractioncanbewritteninmorethanoneway,thesamedecimalmayhavemorethanonerepresentation.1.0
and0.999...aretwodifferentdecimalnumeralsrepresentingthenaturalnumber1.Thereareinfinitelymanyotherwaysofrepresentingthe
number1,forexample1.00,1.000,andsoon.
Everyrealnumberiseitherrationalorirrational.Everyrealnumbercorrespondstoapointonthenumberline.Therealnumbersalsohavean
importantbuthighlytechnicalpropertycalledtheleastupperboundproperty.
Whenarealnumberrepresentsameasurement,thereisalwaysamarginoferror.Thisisoftenindicatedbyroundingortruncatingadecimal,
sothatdigitsthatsuggestagreateraccuracythanthemeasurementitselfareremoved.Theremainingdigitsarecalledsignificantdigits.For
example,measurementswitharulercanseldombemadewithoutamarginoferrorofatleast0.001meters.Ifthesidesofarectangleare
measuredas1.23metersand4.56meters,thenmultiplicationgivesanareafortherectangleof5.6088squaremeters.Sinceonlythefirst
twodigitsafterthedecimalplacearesignificant,thisisusuallyroundedto5.61.
Inabstractalgebra,itcanbeshownthatanycompleteorderedfieldisisomorphictotherealnumbers.Therealnumbersarenot,however,
analgebraicallyclosedfield,becausetheydonotincludethesquarerootofminusone.

Complexnumbers

[ edit ]

Mainarticle:Complexnumber
Movingtoagreaterlevelofabstraction,therealnumberscanbeextendedtothecomplexnumbers.Thissetofnumbersarosehistorically
fromtryingtofindclosedformulasfortherootsofcubicandquarticpolynomials.Thisledtoexpressionsinvolvingthesquarerootsofnegative
numbers,andeventuallytothedefinitionofanewnumber:asquarerootof1,denotedbyi,asymbolassignedbyLeonhardEuler,and
calledtheimaginaryunit.Thecomplexnumbersconsistofallnumbersoftheform

whereaandbarerealnumbers.Becauseofthis,complexnumberscorrespondtopointsonthecomplexplane,avectorspaceoftwo
realdimensions.Intheexpressiona+bi,therealnumberaiscalledtherealpartandbiscalledtheimaginarypart.Iftherealpartofa
complexnumberis0,thenthenumberiscalledanimaginarynumberorisreferredtoaspurelyimaginaryiftheimaginarypartis0,thenthe
numberisarealnumber.Thustherealnumbersareasubsetofthecomplexnumbers.Iftherealandimaginarypartsofacomplexnumber
arebothintegers,thenthenumberiscalledaGaussianinteger.ThesymbolforthecomplexnumbersisCor .
Inabstractalgebra,thecomplexnumbersareanexampleofanalgebraicallyclosedfield,meaningthateverypolynomialwith
complexcoefficientscanbefactoredintolinearfactors.Liketherealnumbersystem,thecomplexnumbersystemisafieldandiscomplete,but
unliketherealnumbers,itisnotordered.Thatis,thereisnomeaninginsayingthatiisgreaterthan1,noristhereanymeaninginsaying
thatiislessthan1.Intechnicalterms,thecomplexnumberslackthetrichotomyproperty.
Eachofthenumbersystemsmentionedaboveisapropersubsetofthenextnumbersystem.Symbolically,

Subclassesoftheintegers

[ edit ]

Evenandoddnumbers

[ edit ]

Mainarticle:Evenandoddnumbers
Anevennumberisanintegerthatis"evenlydivisible"bytwo,thatisdivisiblebytwowithoutremainderanoddnumberisanintegerthatis
noteven.(Theoldfashionedterm"evenlydivisible"isnowalmostalwaysshortenedto"divisible".)Equivalently,anotherwayofdefiningan
oddnumberisthatitisanintegeroftheformn=2k+1,wherekisaninteger,andanevennumberhastheformn=2kwherekisaninteger.

Primenumbers

[ edit ]

Mainarticle:Primenumber
Aprimenumberisanintegergreaterthan1thatisnottheproductoftwosmallerpositiveintegers.Thefirstfewprimenumbersare2,3,5,7,
and11.Theprimenumbershavebeenwidelystudiedformorethan2000yearsandhaveledtomanyquestions,onlysomeofwhichhave
beenanswered.Thestudyofthesequestionsiscallednumbertheory.Anexampleofaquestionthatisstillunanswerediswhetherevery
evennumberisthesumoftwoprimes.ThisiscalledGoldbach'sconjecture.
Aquestionthathasbeenanswerediswhethereveryintegergreaterthanoneisaproductofprimesinonlyoneway,exceptfora
rearrangementoftheprimes.Thisiscalledfundamentaltheoremofarithmetic.AproofappearsinEuclid'sElements.

Otherclassesofintegers

[ edit ]

Manysubsetsofthenaturalnumbershavebeenthesubjectofspecificstudiesandhavebeennamed,oftenafterthefirstmathematicianthat
hasstudiedthem.ExampleofsuchsetsofintegersareFibonaccinumbersandperfectnumbers.Formoreexamples,seeIntegersequence.

Subclassesofthecomplexnumbers

[ edit ]

Algebraic,irrationalandtranscendentalnumbers

[ edit ]

Algebraicnumbersarethosethatareasolutiontoapolynomialequationwithintegercoefficients.Complexnumbersthatarenotrational
numbersarecalledirrationalnumbers.Complexnumberswhicharenotalgebraicarecalledtranscendentalnumbers.Thealgebraicnumbers
thataresolutionsofamonicpolynomialequationwithintegercoefficientsarecalledalgebraicintegers.

Computablenumbers

[ edit ]

Mainarticle:Computablenumber
Acomputablenumber,alsoknownasrecursivenumber,isarealnumbersuchthatthereexistsanalgorithmwhich,givenapositive
numbernasinput,producesthefirstndigitsofthecomputablenumber'sdecimalrepresentation.Equivalentdefinitionscanbegivenusing
recursivefunctions,Turingmachinesorcalculus.Thecomputablenumbersarestableforallusualarithmeticoperations,includingthe
computationoftherootsofapolynomial,andthusformarealclosedfieldthatcontainstherealalgebraicnumbers.
Thecomputablenumbersmaybeviewedastherealnumbersthatmaybeexactlyrepresentedinacomputer:acomputablenumberis
exactlyrepresentedbyitsfirstdigitsandaprogramforcomputingfurtherdigits.However,thecomputablenumbersarerarelyusedin
practice.Onereasonisthatthereisnoalgorithmfortestingtheequalityoftwocomputablenumbers.Moreprecisely,therecannotexistany
algorithmwhichtakesanycomputablenumberasaninput,anddecidesineverycaseifthisnumberisequaltozeroornot.
Thesetofcomputablenumbershasthesamecardinalityasthenaturalnumbers.Therefore,almostallrealnumbersarenoncomputable.
However,itisverydifficulttoproduceexplicitlyarealnumberthatisnotcomputable.

Extensionsoftheconcept
padicnumbers

[ edit ]

[ edit ]

Mainarticle:padicnumber
Thepadicnumbersmayhaveinfinitelylongexpansionstotheleftofthedecimalpoint,inthesamewaythatrealnumbersmayhaveinfinitely
longexpansionstotheright.Thenumbersystemthatresultsdependsonwhatbaseisusedforthedigits:anybaseispossible,butaprime
numberbaseprovidesthebestmathematicalproperties.Thesetofthepadicnumberscontainstherationalnumbers,butisnotcontainedin
thecomplexnumbers.
Theelementsofanalgebraicfunctionfieldoverafinitefieldandalgebraicnumbershavemanysimilarproperties(seeFunctionfieldanalogy).
Therefore,theyareoftenregardedasnumbersbynumbertheorists.Thepadicnumbersplayanimportantroleinthisanalogy.

Hypercomplexnumbers

[ edit ]

Mainarticle:hypercomplexnumber
Somenumbersystemsthatarenotincludedinthecomplexnumbersmaybeconstructedfromtherealnumbersinawaythatgeneralizethe
constructionofthecomplexnumbers.Theyaresometimescalledhypercomplexnumbers.TheyincludethequaternionsH,introducedby
SirWilliamRowanHamilton,inwhichmultiplicationisnotcommutative,andtheoctonions,inwhichmultiplicationisnotassociative.

Transfinitenumbers

[ edit ]

Mainarticle:transfinitenumber
Fordealingwithinfinitesets,thenaturalnumbershavebeengeneralizedtotheordinalnumbersandtothecardinalnumbers.Theformer
givestheorderingoftheset,whilethelattergivesitssize.Forfinitesets,bothordinalandcardinalnumbersareidentifiedwiththenatural
numbers.Intheinfinitecase,manyordinalnumberscorrespondtothesamecardinalnumber.

Nonstandardnumbers

[ edit ]

Hyperrealnumbersareusedinnonstandardanalysis.Thehyperreals,ornonstandardreals(usuallydenotedas*R),denoteanordered
fieldthatisaproperextensionoftheorderedfieldofrealnumbersRandsatisfiesthetransferprinciple.Thisprincipleallowstruefirst
orderstatementsaboutRtobereinterpretedastruefirstorderstatementsabout*R.
Superrealandsurrealnumbersextendtherealnumbersbyaddinginfinitesimallysmallnumbersandinfinitelylargenumbers,butstill
formfields.
Arelationnumberisdefinedastheclassofrelationsconsistingofallthoserelationsthataresimilartoonememberofthe
class.[9][clarificationneeded]

History

[ edit ]

Thissection'sfactual
accuracy
isdisputed.Pleasehelpto
ensurethatdisputed
statementsarereliably
sourced.Seetherelevant
discussiononthetalk
page.(November2014)(Learn
howandwhentoremovethis
templatemessage)

Firstuseofnumbers

[ edit ]

Mainarticles:HistoryofnumbersandHistoryofwritingancientnumbers
Bonesandotherartifactshavebeendiscoveredwithmarkscutintothemthatmanybelievearetallymarks.[10]Thesetallymarksmayhave
beenusedforcountingelapsedtime,suchasnumbersofdays,lunarcyclesorkeepingrecordsofquantities,suchasofanimals.
Atallyingsystemhasnoconceptofplacevalue(asinmoderndecimalnotation),whichlimitsitsrepresentationoflargenumbers.Nonetheless
tallyingsystemsareconsideredthefirstkindofabstractnumeralsystem.
ThefirstknownsystemwithplacevaluewastheMesopotamianbase60system(ca.3400BC)andtheearliestknownbase10systemdates
to3100BCinEgypt.[11]

Zero

[ edit ]

Furtherinformation:Historyofzero
Theuseof0asanumbershouldbedistinguishedfromitsuseasaplaceholdernumeralinplacevalue
systems.Manyancienttextsused0.Babylonian(ModernIraq)andEgyptiantextsusedit.Egyptians
usedthewordnfrtodenotezerobalanceindoubleentryaccountingentries.Indiantextsused
aSanskritwordShunyeorshunyatorefertotheconceptofvoid.Inmathematicstextsthiswordoften
referstothenumberzero.[12]
RecordsshowthattheAncientGreeksseemedunsureaboutthestatusof0asanumber:theyasked
themselves"howcan'nothing'besomething?"leadingtointerestingphilosophicaland,bythe
Medievalperiod,religiousargumentsaboutthenatureandexistenceof0andthevacuum.
TheparadoxesofZenoofEleadependinlargepartontheuncertaininterpretationof0.(Theancient
Greeksevenquestionedwhether1wasanumber.)

Thenumber605inKhmer
numerals,fromaninscriptionfrom683
AD.Anearlyuseofzeroasadecimal
figure.

ThelateOlmecpeopleofsouthcentralMexicobegantouseatruezero(ashellglyph)intheNew
Worldpossiblybythe4thcenturyBCbutcertainlyby40BC,whichbecameanintegralpartofMayanumeralsandtheMayacalendar.Mayan
arithmeticusedbase4andbase5writtenasbase20.Sanchezin1961reportedabase4,base5"finger"abacus.
By130AD,Ptolemy,influencedbyHipparchusandtheBabylonians,wasusingasymbolfor0(asmallcirclewithalongoverbar)withina
sexagesimalnumeralsystemotherwiseusingalphabeticGreeknumerals.Becauseitwasusedalone,notasjustaplaceholder,
thisHellenisticzerowasthefirstdocumenteduseofatruezerointheOldWorld.InlaterByzantinemanuscriptsofhisSyntaxis
Mathematica(Almagest),theHellenisticzerohadmorphedintotheGreekletteromicron(otherwisemeaning70).
AnothertruezerowasusedintablesalongsideRomannumeralsby525(firstknownusebyDionysiusExiguus),butasa
word,nullameaningnothing,notasasymbol.Whendivisionproduced0asaremainder,nihil,alsomeaningnothing,wasused.These
medievalzeroswereusedbyallfuturemedievalcomputists(calculatorsofEaster).Anisolateduseoftheirinitial,N,wasusedinatableof
RomannumeralsbyBedeoracolleagueabout725,atruezerosymbol.
AnearlydocumenteduseofthezerobyBrahmagupta(intheBrhmasphuasiddhnta)datesto628.Hetreated0asanumberanddiscussed
operationsinvolvingit,includingdivision.Bythistime(the7thcentury)theconcepthadclearlyreachedCambodiaasKhmernumerals,and
documentationshowstheidealaterspreadingtoChinaandtheIslamicworld.

Negativenumbers

[ edit ]

Furtherinformation:Historyofnegativenumbers
Theabstractconceptofnegativenumberswasrecognizedasearlyas100BC50BCinChina.TheNineChaptersontheMathematical
Artcontainsmethodsforfindingtheareasoffiguresredrodswereusedtodenotepositivecoefficients,blackfornegative.[13]Thefirst
referenceinaWesternworkwasinthe3rdcenturyADinGreece.Diophantusreferredtotheequationequivalentto4x+20=0(thesolution
isnegative)inArithmetica,sayingthattheequationgaveanabsurdresult.
Duringthe600s,negativenumberswereinuseinIndiatorepresentdebts.Diophantus'previousreferencewasdiscussedmoreexplicitlyby

IndianmathematicianBrahmagupta,inBrhmasphuasiddhnta628,whousednegativenumberstoproducethegeneralformquadratic
formulathatremainsinusetoday.However,inthe12thcenturyinIndia,Bhaskaragivesnegativerootsforquadraticequationsbutsaysthe
negativevalue"isinthiscasenottobetaken,foritisinadequatepeopledonotapproveofnegativeroots."
Europeanmathematicians,forthemostpart,resistedtheconceptofnegativenumbersuntilthe17thcentury,althoughFibonacciallowed
negativesolutionsinfinancialproblemswheretheycouldbeinterpretedasdebts(chapter13ofLiberAbaci,1202)andlateraslosses
(inFlos).Atthesametime,theChinesewereindicatingnegativenumbersbydrawingadiagonalstrokethroughtherightmostnonzerodigit
ofthecorrespondingpositivenumber'snumeral.[14]ThefirstuseofnegativenumbersinaEuropeanworkwasbyNicolasChuquetduringthe
15thcentury.Heusedthemasexponents,butreferredtothemas"absurdnumbers".
Asrecentlyasthe18thcentury,itwascommonpracticetoignoreanynegativeresultsreturnedbyequationsontheassumptionthatthey
weremeaningless,justasRenDescartesdidwithnegativesolutionsinaCartesiancoordinatesystem.

Rationalnumbers

[ edit ]

Itislikelythattheconceptoffractionalnumbersdatestoprehistorictimes.TheAncientEgyptiansusedtheirEgyptianfractionnotationfor
rationalnumbersinmathematicaltextssuchastheRhindMathematicalPapyrusandtheKahunPapyrus.ClassicalGreekandIndian
mathematiciansmadestudiesofthetheoryofrationalnumbers,aspartofthegeneralstudyofnumbertheory.Thebestknownofthese
isEuclid'sElements,datingtoroughly300BC.OftheIndiantexts,themostrelevantistheSthanangaSutra,whichalsocoversnumbertheory
aspartofageneralstudyofmathematics.
Theconceptofdecimalfractionsiscloselylinkedwithdecimalplacevaluenotationthetwoseemtohavedevelopedintandem.Forexample,
itiscommonfortheJainmathsutratoincludecalculationsofdecimalfractionapproximationstopiorthesquarerootof2.Similarly,
Babylonianmathtextshadalwaysusedsexagesimal(base60)fractionswithgreatfrequency.

Irrationalnumbers

[ edit ]

Furtherinformation:Historyofirrationalnumbers
TheearliestknownuseofirrationalnumberswasintheIndianSulbaSutrascomposedbetween800and500BC.[15]Thefirstexistenceproofs
ofirrationalnumbersisusuallyattributedtoPythagoras,morespecificallytothePythagoreanHippasusofMetapontum,whoproduceda
(mostlikelygeometrical)proofoftheirrationalityofthesquarerootof2.ThestorygoesthatHippasusdiscoveredirrationalnumberswhen
tryingtorepresentthesquarerootof2asafraction.HoweverPythagorasbelievedintheabsolutenessofnumbers,andcouldnotacceptthe
existenceofirrationalnumbers.Hecouldnotdisprovetheirexistencethroughlogic,buthecouldnotacceptirrationalnumbers,sohe
sentencedHippasustodeathbydrowning.
The16thcenturybroughtfinalEuropeanacceptanceofnegativeintegralandfractionalnumbers.Bythe17thcentury,mathematicians
generallyuseddecimalfractionswithmodernnotation.Itwasnot,however,untilthe19thcenturythatmathematiciansseparatedirrationals
intoalgebraicandtranscendentalparts,andoncemoreundertookscientificstudyofirrationals.IthadremainedalmostdormantsinceEuclid.
In1872,thepublicationofthetheoriesofKarlWeierstrass(byhispupilKossak),Heine(Crelle,74),GeorgCantor(Annalen,5),andRichard
Dedekindwasbroughtabout.In1869,MrayhadtakenthesamepointofdepartureasHeine,butthetheoryisgenerallyreferredtotheyear
1872.Weierstrass'smethodwascompletelysetforthbySalvatorePincherle(1880),andDedekind'shasreceivedadditionalprominence
throughtheauthor'slaterwork(1888)andendorsementbyPaulTannery(1894).Weierstrass,Cantor,andHeinebasetheirtheorieson
infiniteseries,whileDedekindfoundshisontheideaofacut(Schnitt)inthesystemofrealnumbers,separatingallrationalnumbersintotwo
groupshavingcertaincharacteristicproperties.ThesubjecthasreceivedlatercontributionsatthehandsofWeierstrass,Kronecker(Crelle,
101),andMray.
Thesearchforrootsofquinticandhigherdegreeequationswasanimportantdevelopment,theAbelRuffini
theorem(Ruffini1799,Abel1824)showedthattheycouldnotbesolvedbyradicals(formulasinvolvingonlyarithmeticaloperationsand
roots).Henceitwasnecessarytoconsiderthewidersetofalgebraicnumbers(allsolutionstopolynomialequations).Galois(1832)linked
polynomialequationstogrouptheorygivingrisetothefieldofGaloistheory.
Continuedfractions,closelyrelatedtoirrationalnumbers(andduetoCataldi,1613),receivedattentionatthehandsofEuler,andatthe
openingofthe19thcenturywerebroughtintoprominencethroughthewritingsofJosephLouisLagrange.Othernoteworthycontributions
havebeenmadebyDruckenmller(1837),Kunze(1857),Lemke(1870),andGnther(1872).Ramus(1855)firstconnectedthesubject
withdeterminants,resulting,withthesubsequentcontributionsofHeine,Mbius,andGnther,inthetheoryofKettenbruchdeterminanten.

Transcendentalnumbersandreals

[ edit ]

Furtherinformation:Historyof
Theexistenceoftranscendentalnumbers[16]wasfirstestablishedbyLiouville(1844,1851).Hermiteprovedin1873thateistranscendental
andLindemannprovedin1882thatistranscendental.Finally,Cantorshowedthatthesetofallrealnumbersisuncountablyinfinitebutthe
setofallalgebraicnumbersiscountablyinfinite,sothereisanuncountablyinfinitenumberoftranscendentalnumbers.

Infinityandinfinitesimals

[ edit ]

Furtherinformation:Historyofinfinity
TheearliestknownconceptionofmathematicalinfinityappearsintheYajurVeda,anancientIndianscript,whichatonepointstates,"Ifyou
removeapartfrominfinityoraddaparttoinfinity,stillwhatremainsisinfinity."Infinitywasapopulartopicofphilosophicalstudyamong
theJainmathematiciansc.400BC.Theydistinguishedbetweenfivetypesofinfinity:infiniteinoneandtwodirections,infiniteinarea,infinite
everywhere,andinfiniteperpetually.
AristotledefinedthetraditionalWesternnotionofmathematicalinfinity.Hedistinguishedbetweenactualinfinityandpotentialinfinitythe
generalconsensusbeingthatonlythelatterhadtruevalue.GalileoGalilei'sTwoNewSciencesdiscussedtheideaofonetoone
correspondencesbetweeninfinitesets.ButthenextmajoradvanceinthetheorywasmadebyGeorgCantorin1895hepublishedabook

abouthisnewsettheory,introducing,amongotherthings,transfinitenumbersandformulatingthecontinuumhypothesis.
Inthe1960s,AbrahamRobinsonshowedhowinfinitelylargeandinfinitesimalnumberscanberigorouslydefinedandusedtodevelopthe
fieldofnonstandardanalysis.Thesystemofhyperrealnumbersrepresentsarigorousmethodoftreatingtheideas
aboutinfiniteandinfinitesimalnumbersthathadbeenusedcasuallybymathematicians,scientists,andengineerseversincetheinvention
ofinfinitesimalcalculusbyNewtonandLeibniz.
Amoderngeometricalversionofinfinityisgivenbyprojectivegeometry,whichintroduces"idealpointsatinfinity",oneforeachspatial
direction.Eachfamilyofparallellinesinagivendirectionispostulatedtoconvergetothecorrespondingidealpoint.Thisiscloselyrelatedto
theideaofvanishingpointsinperspectivedrawing.

Complexnumbers

[ edit ]

Furtherinformation:Historyofcomplexnumbers
TheearliestfleetingreferencetosquarerootsofnegativenumbersoccurredintheworkofthemathematicianandinventorHeronof
Alexandriainthe1stcenturyAD,whenheconsideredthevolumeofanimpossiblefrustumofapyramid.Theybecamemoreprominentwhen
inthe16thcenturyclosedformulasfortherootsofthirdandfourthdegreepolynomialswerediscoveredbyItalianmathematicianssuch
asNiccolFontanaTartagliaandGerolamoCardano.Itwassoonrealizedthattheseformulas,evenifonewasonlyinterestedinreal
solutions,sometimesrequiredthemanipulationofsquarerootsofnegativenumbers.
Thiswasdoublyunsettlingsincetheydidnotevenconsidernegativenumberstobeonfirmgroundatthetime.WhenRenDescartescoined
theterm"imaginary"forthesequantitiesin1637,heintendeditasderogatory.(Seeimaginarynumberforadiscussionofthe"reality"of
complexnumbers.)Afurthersourceofconfusionwasthattheequation

seemedcapriciouslyinconsistentwiththealgebraicidentity

whichisvalidforpositiverealnumbersaandb,andwasalsousedincomplexnumbercalculationswithoneofa,bpositiveandtheother
negative.Theincorrectuseofthisidentity,andtherelatedidentity

inthecasewhenbothaandbarenegativeevenbedeviledEuler.Thisdifficultyeventuallyledhimtotheconventionofusingthespecial
symboliinplaceof

toguardagainstthismistake.

The18thcenturysawtheworkofAbrahamdeMoivreandLeonhardEuler.DeMoivre'sformula(1730)states:

andtoEuler(1748)Euler'sformulaofcomplexanalysis:

TheexistenceofcomplexnumberswasnotcompletelyaccepteduntilCasparWesseldescribedthegeometricalinterpretationin1799.Carl
FriedrichGaussrediscoveredandpopularizeditseveralyearslater,andasaresultthetheoryofcomplexnumbersreceivedanotable
expansion.Theideaofthegraphicrepresentationofcomplexnumbershadappeared,however,asearlyas1685,inWallis'sDeAlgebra
tractatus.
Alsoin1799,Gaussprovidedthefirstgenerallyacceptedproofofthefundamentaltheoremofalgebra,showingthateverypolynomialover
thecomplexnumbershasafullsetofsolutionsinthatrealm.Thegeneralacceptanceofthetheoryofcomplexnumbersisduetothelabors
ofAugustinLouisCauchyandNielsHenrikAbel,andespeciallythelatter,whowasthefirsttoboldlyusecomplexnumberswithasuccessthat
iswellknown.
Gaussstudiedcomplexnumbersoftheforma+bi,whereaandbareintegral,orrational(andiisoneofthetworootsofx2+1=0).His
student,GottholdEisenstein,studiedthetypea+b,whereisacomplexrootofx31=0.Othersuchclasses(calledcyclotomicfields)of
complexnumbersderivefromtherootsofunityxk1=0forhighervaluesofk.ThisgeneralizationislargelyduetoErnstKummer,whoalso
inventedidealnumbers,whichwereexpressedasgeometricalentitiesbyFelixKleinin1893.
In1850VictorAlexandrePuiseuxtookthekeystepofdistinguishingbetweenpolesandbranchpoints,andintroducedtheconceptofessential
singularpoints.Thiseventuallyledtotheconceptoftheextendedcomplexplane.

Primenumbers

[ edit ]

Primenumbershavebeenstudiedthroughoutrecordedhistory.EucliddevotedonebookoftheElementstothetheoryofprimesinithe
provedtheinfinitudeoftheprimesandthefundamentaltheoremofarithmetic,andpresentedtheEuclideanalgorithmforfindingthegreatest
commondivisoroftwonumbers.
In240BC,EratosthenesusedtheSieveofEratosthenestoquicklyisolateprimenumbers.Butmostfurtherdevelopmentofthetheoryof
primesinEuropedatestotheRenaissanceandlatereras.
In1796,AdrienMarieLegendreconjecturedtheprimenumbertheorem,describingtheasymptoticdistributionofprimes.Otherresults
concerningthedistributionoftheprimesincludeEuler'sproofthatthesumofthereciprocalsoftheprimesdiverges,andtheGoldbach
conjecture,whichclaimsthatanysufficientlylargeevennumberisthesumoftwoprimes.Yetanotherconjecturerelatedtothedistributionof
primenumbersistheRiemannhypothesis,formulatedbyBernhardRiemannin1859.Theprimenumbertheoremwasfinallyproved
byJacquesHadamardandCharlesdelaVallePoussinin1896.GoldbachandRiemann'sconjecturesremainunprovenandunrefuted.

Seealso

[ edit ]

Numeralsbyculture

Mathematicalconstants

Concretenumber

Mathematicalconstantsand

Arabicnumerals

Floatingpointrepresentation

Babyloniannumerals

incomputers

functions

Egyptiannumerals

TheFoundationsof

Mythicalnumbers

Greeknumerals

Arithmetic

Numbersign

Hebrewnumerals

Integer(computerscience)

Numericalcognition

Indiannumerals

Listofnumbers

Numerosign

Romannumerals

Listofnumbersinvarious

Ordersofmagnitude

Historyofnumbers

languages

Physicalconstants

Literal(computerscience)

Subitizingandcounting

Otherrelatedtopics

Notes

WikimediaCommonshas
mediarelatedtoNumbers.

[ edit ]

1.^ a bGilsdorf,ThomasE.IntroductiontoCulturalMathematics:WithCaseStudiesintheOtomiesandIncas,JohnWiley&Sons,Feb24,2012.
2.^Restivo,S.MathematicsinSocietyandHistory,SpringerScience&BusinessMedia,Nov30,1992.
3.^ a bOre,Oystein.NumberTheoryandItsHistory,CourierDoverPublications.
4.^Gouvea,FernandoQ.ThePrincetonCompaniontoMathematics,ChapterII.1,"TheOriginsofModernMathematics",p.82.PrincetonUniversity
Press,September28,2008.ISBN9780691118802.
5.^Weisstein,EricW.,"NaturalNumber" ,MathWorld.
6.^"naturalnumber" ,MerriamWebster.com(MerriamWebster),retrieved4October2014
7.^Suppes,Patrick(1972).AxiomaticSetTheory.CourierDoverPublications.p.1.ISBN0486616304.
8.^Weisstein,EricW.,"Integer" ,MathWorld.
9.^Russell,Bertrand(1919).IntroductiontoMathematicalPhilosophy.Routledge.p.56.ISBN0415096049.
10.^Marshak,A.,TheRootsofCivilisationCognitiveBeginningsofMansFirstArt,SymbolandNotation,(Weidenfeld&Nicolson,London:1972),81ff.
11.^"EgyptianMathematicalPapyriMathematiciansoftheAfricanDiaspora" .Math.buffalo.edu.Retrieved20120130.
12.^"HistoriaMatematicaMailingListArchive:Re:[HM]TheZeroStory:aquestion" .Sunsite.utk.edu.19990426.Retrieved20120130.
13.^Staszkow,RonaldRobertBradshaw(2004).TheMathematicalPalette(3rded.).BrooksCole.p.41.ISBN0534403654.
14.^Smith,DavidEugene(1958).HistoryofModernMathematics.DoverPublications.p.259.ISBN0486204294.
15.^Selin,Helaine,ed.(2000).Mathematicsacrosscultures:thehistoryofnonWesternmathematics.KluwerAcademicPublishers.p.451.ISBN07923
64813.
16.^Bogomolny,A."What'sanumber?" .InteractiveMathematicsMiscellanyandPuzzles.Retrieved11July2010.

References

[ edit ]

TobiasDantzig,Number,thelanguageofscienceacriticalsurveywrittenfortheculturednonmathematician,NewYork,TheMacmillan
company,1930.
ErichFriedman,What'sspecialaboutthisnumber?
StevenGalovich,IntroductiontoMathematicalStructures,HarcourtBraceJavanovich,23January1989,ISBN0155434683.
PaulHalmos,NaiveSetTheory,Springer,1974,ISBN0387900926.
MorrisKline,MathematicalThoughtfromAncienttoModernTimes,OxfordUniversityPress,1972.
AlfredNorthWhiteheadandBertrandRussell,PrincipiaMathematicato*56,CambridgeUniversityPress,1910.
GeorgeI.Sanchez,ArithmeticinMaya,AustinTexas,1961.

Externallinks

[ edit ]

Nechaev,V.I.(2001),"Number" ,inHazewinkel,Michiel,Encyclopediaof

Lookupnumberin
Wiktionary,thefree
dictionary.

Mathematics,Springer,ISBN9781556080104
Tallant,Jonathan."DoNumbersExist?" .Numberphile.BradyHaran.
MesopotamianandGermanicnumbers

Wikiversityhaslearning
materialsaboutPrimary
mathematics:Numbers

BBCRadio4,InOurTime:NegativeNumbers
'4000YearsofNumbers' ,lecturebyRobinWilson,07/11/07,GreshamCollege(availablefor
downloadasMP3orMP4,andasatextfile).

"What'stheWorld'sFavoriteNumber?" .20110622.Retrieved20110917."CuddlingWith9,SmoochingWith8,WinkingAt7" .2011

0811.Retrieved20110917.

Numbersystems

VTE

Countablesets
Divisionalgebras
Split
Compositionalgebras
Otherhypercomplex
Othertypes

Naturalnumbers()Integers()Rationalnumbers()ConstructiblenumbersAlgebraicnumbers()PeriodsComputablenumbersDefinablerealnumbe
Realnumbers()Complexnumbers()Quaternions()Octonions()
over:SplitcomplexnumbersSplitquaternionsSplitoctonions
over:BicomplexnumbersBiquaternionsBioctonions
DualnumbersDualquaternionsHyperbolicquaternionsSedenions()Splitbiquaternions
CardinalnumbersIrrationalnumbersHyperrealnumbersLeviCivitafieldSurrealnumbersTranscendentalnumbersOrdinalnumberspadicnumbers
ClassificationList
Authoritycontrol

GND:40672712

NDL:00571509

Categories: Grouptheory

Numbers

Mathematicalobjects

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