Realnumber

sandt
heNumberLi
ne

Def
ini
ti
ons

A set 
isacol
lecti
onofobj ects,typi
cal
l
ygroupedwit
hinbr {
aces }
 ,whereeachobj
ecti
s
call
edan el
ement .Forexampl e,{
 red,
green,blue}i
sasetofcolors.A 
subset
 i
saset
consisti
ngofelementsthatbel ongtoagivenset
.Forexample,
 {
green, bl
ue}isa
subsetofthecolorsetabov e.Asetwithnoelementsiscal
ledt
he emptyset 
andhas
i
tsownspeci
alnot
ati {
on,
  }
 or
 ∅.

Whenst
udy
ingmat
hemat
ics,
wef
ocusonspeci
alset
sofnumber
s.Thesetof
 nat
ural
(
orcount
ing)number
s,denot N,i
ed  s

{
1,2,
3,
4,
5,
…}Nat
ural
Number
s

Thethreeper
i (
ods …) 
i
scall
edanel
li
psi
sandindicat
esthatt
henumberscont
inue
wit
houtbound.Thesetof
 whol
enumbers,
denoted W,i
sthesetofnat
ural
numbers
combinedwit
hzero.

{
0,1,
2,
3,
4,
5,
…}Whol
eNumber
s

Thesetof 
int
eger
s,denot Z,
ed  consi
stsofbot
hposi
ti
veandnegat
ive 
whol
enumber
s,
aswellaszer
o.

{
…,−3,
−2,
−1,
0,
1,
2,
3,
…}

Not
icet
hatt
heset
sofnat
ural
and 
whol
enumber
s ar
ebot
hsubset
soft
hesetof
 

i
nteger
s.
Rationalnumbers,denot Q,
ed  aredef
inedasanynumberofthef
orm ab,a/b
wher a 
e  b 
and  ar
e i
ntegers  b 
and  i
snonzero.Deci
mal
sthatr
epeatort
erminatear
e
rat
ional.Forexample,

0.
7=7/
10and0.
3¯=0.
3333⋯=1/
3

Thesetof
 i
nteger
s i
sasubsetoft
hesetofr
ati
onal
number
s becauseev
eryi
nteger
canbeexpr
essedasa 
rat
io 
oft
heint
egerand 1.Inot
herwords,anyint
egercanbe
wri
tt
enover
 1 
andcanbeconsi
der
edar at
ionalnumber.Forexample,

5=5/
1

I
rr
ati
onalnumbers
 
aredef
inedasanynumbert
hatcannotbewr i
tt
enasa r
ati
o oft
wo i
nteger
s.
Nont
erminat
ingdeci
mal
sthatdonotrepeatar
eirr
ati
onal
.Forexample,

π=3.
14159…and√2=1.
41421…

Thesetof 
realnumber s,
denot R,
ed  i
sdefinedasthesetofal
l 
rat
ional
numbers 
combi nedwiththesetofal
l
 i
rr
ational
numbers.Ther
efore,al
lthenumber
s
def
inedsofarar esubset
softhesetof 
realnumbers.I
nsummar y
,

Fi
gur 1.
e  1.
11.
1.1:
 
Real
Number s

NumberLi
ne

A r
ealnumberli
ne,orsi
mplynumberli
ne,
all
owsustovisual
l
ydi
spl
ay 
realnumber
s by
associ
ati
ngthem wit
huniquepoi
ntsonali
ne.Ther
eal
numberassoci
atedwit
hapoint
i
scall
eda coor
dinat
e.Apointont
her
eal
numberl
i
net
hati
sassoci
atedwi
tha
coor
dinat
eiscal
ledi
ts 
graph.

Toconstructanumberline,dr
awa hori
zont
all
ine 
wit
har
rowsonbothendst
oindi
cate
thati
tcontinueswi
thoutbound.Next
,chooseanypoi
ntt
orepr
esentt
henumberzer
o;
thi
spointiscall
edt
he origi
n.

Markof
fconsi
stentl
engthsonbot
hsidesoft
he 
ori
gin 
andlabeleacht
ickmarkto
def
inet
hescal
e.Posit
ive 
real
number
s l
iet
otheri
ghtofthe 
ori
gin 
andnegat
ive 
real
numbersl
i
etothel
eft
.Thenumberzer
o (
0) 
i
snei
therposi
ti
venornegat
ive.Ty
pical
l
y,
eacht
ickr
epr
esent
soneunit
.

Asi
l
lust
rat
edbel
ow,
thescal
eneednotal
way
sbeoneuni
t.I
nthef
ir
stnumberl
i
ne,
eachti
ckmar
krepr
esent
stwouni
ts.I
nthesecond,
eacht
ickmar
krepr
esent
s 1/
7 ofa
unit
.
The 
graph 
ofeachr
eal
numberi
sshownasadotatt
heappr
opr
iat
epoi
ntont
he
numberl
i
ne.Apar
ti
al 
graph 
oft
hesetof
 i
nt sZ 
eger fol
l
ows:

Exampl
e 1.
Graph 
thef
oll
owi
ngsetof
 r
eal
number
s:

Solut
ion
Graph t
henumber
sonanumberl
i
newi
thascal
ewher
eeacht
ickmar
k
r
epr
esent
s 1/
2 ofauni
t.

Or
der
ing 
RealNumber
s

Whencompar
ing 
real
number
s onanumberl
i
ne,
thel
argernumberwi
l
lal
way
sli
eto
therightoft
hesmallerone.I
tiscleart
hat
 15 i
sgreat
ert 5,
han  buti
tmaynotbeso
cleartoseethat
 −1 
i
sgr eat
erthan −5 
unt
ilwe 
graph 
eachnumberonanumberli
ne.

Weusesymbolstohelpusef
fi
cient
lycommunicat
erel
ati
onshi
psbetweennumbers
onthenumberl
ine.Thesy
mbolsusedtodescr
ibean 
equali
tyr
elat
ionshi
p bet
ween
numbersf
oll
ow:

=i
s equal
 
to≠i
s not
 equal
 
to≈i
s appr
oxi
mat
ely
 equal
 
to

Thesesy
mbol
sar
eusedandi
nter
pret
edi
nthef
oll
owi
ngmanner
:
 5=50
≠5π

≈3.
14
5 
i
s equal
 
to 
50 
i
s not
 equal
 
to 
5pi
 
is 
appr
oxi
mat
ely
 equal
 
to 
3.14

Wenextdef
inesy
mbol
sthatdenot
ean 
order
 r
elat
ionshi
p bet
ween 
real
number
s.

<Less 
than>Gr
eat
er 
than≤Less 
than 
or 
equal
 
to≥Gr
eat
er 
than 
or 
equal
 
to

Thesesy
mbol
sal
l
owust
ocompar
etwonumber
s.Forexampl
e,

−120<−10

Negat
ive 
120 
i
s l
ess 
than 
negat
ive 
10

Sincet
he graph 
of−120 
  ist
othel
eftofthe 
graph of–10 
  onthenumberl
ine,
that
numberislesst −10.Wecoul
han  dwrit
eanequi valentst
atementasf
oll
ows:

−10>−120

Negat
ive 
10 
i
s gr
eat
er 
than 
negat
ive 
120

Simil
arl
y,si
ncethe 
graph 
ofzeroistotheri
ghtoft
he gr
aph 
ofanynegat
ivenumberon
thenumberline,
zer
oi sgr
eaterthananynegati
venumber.

0>−50

Zer
o i
s gr
eat
er 
than 
negat
ive 
50

Thesymbol < 
s  and > areusedt
odenote st
ri
ctinequali
ti
es,andt
hesymbol
sandare
usedt
odenote inclusiv
einequal
it
ies.I
nsomesi tuat
ions,moret
hanonesymbol
can
becor
rect
lyapplied.Forexample,t
hefoll
owingtwost at
ementsarebot
htr
ue:

−10<0 
and 
−10≤0
Inaddi
ti
on,
the“orequal
to”componentofani
ncl
usi
vei
nequal
i
tyal
l
owsust
o
corr
ect
lywri
tet
hef ol
l
owing:

−10≤−10

Thelogi
caluseoftheword“or
”requi
rest
hatonl
yoneoft
hecondi
ti
onsneedbet
rue:
the“
lessthan”ort
he“equal
to.”

Exampl
e 2

Fi
l
lint
hebl
ankwi
t <,
h  =,
or>:
  −2 
___
_ −12.

Sol
uti
on

Use>becausethe 
graph 
of −2 
i
st otheri
ghtofthe 
graph 
of−12 
  onanumberl
ine.
Ther
efor
e,−2>−12,
  whichreads“negati
vetwoisgreatert
hannegati
vet
welv
e.”

:−2>
Answer −12

Absol
uteVal
ue

The absol
utev al
ue 
ofareal numbera,
  denot |
ed a|
,i
sdefi
nedasthedist
ancebetween
zero(the 
ori
gin)andthe 
graph oft
hatrealnumberonthenumberli
ne.Si
nceiti
sa
dist
ance,iti
salwaysposit
ive.Forexample,

|
−4|
=4and|
4|=4

Bot
h 4  −4 
and  aref
ouruni
tsf
rom t
heor
igi
n,asi
l
lust
rat
edbel
ow:
Al
so,
iti
swor
thnot
i hat|
ngt 0|=0

The absol
utevalue canbeexpressedt ext
uall
yusingthenotat
ionabs(a).Weof t
en
encounternegati
veabsolut
ev alues,suchas −|3| 
or– 
  abs(
3).Noti
cethatthenegati
ve
si
gni sinfr
ontoft he 
absol
utevalue symbol.I
nt hi
scase,workthe 
absol
utevalue 
fi
rst
andt henfi
ndthe opposi
te 
ofther esul
t.

−|
3| −|
−3|

=−3 =−3

Tr
ynott
oconf
uset
hiswi
tht
he 
doubl
e-negat
ivepr
oper
ty,
whi
chst
atest
hat
 −(
−7)
=+7.

Atthi
spoint,
wecandet
ermi
newhat
 r
eal
number
s hav
eapar
ti
cul
ar 
absol
utev
alue.
Forexample,

|
?|
=5

Thinkofarealnumberwhosedi
stancet
ot he 
ori
gin 
i
s 5 
uni
ts.Therearetwosolut
ions:
thedist
ancetotheri
ghtoft
he 
ori
gin 
andthedist
ancetotheleftofthe 
ori
gin,
namely,
 
{
±5}
.Thesy  (
mbol ±)
 i
sread“
plusormi
nus”andi
ndi
cat
est
hatt
her
ear
etwoanswer
s,
oneposi
ti
veandonenegat
ive.

|
−5|
=5 and|
5|=5

Nowconsi
dert
hef
oll
owi
ng:
Before absolute modes there's not negative sign which
|
?|
=−5 means only a value within mode should be in such a
way that the result will be -5 which is not possible.

Herewewisht ofi
ndav al
ueforwhi
chthedist
ancet
ot he or
igi
n i
snegat
ive.Si
nce
negat
ivedi
stanceisnotdefi
ned,
thi
sequat
ionhasno soluti
on.I
fanequationhas
no 
sol
uti
on,
wesayt
hesol
uti
on 
i
stheempt
yset
:∅.
 

Real
,I
magi
nar
yandCompl
exNumber
s

Real
number
sar
etheusual
posi
ti
veandnegat
ivenumber
s.I
fwemul
ti
plyar
eal
numberbyi
,wecal
lther
esul
tani
magi
nar
ynumber
.Exampl
esofi
magi
nar
ynumber
s
ar
e:i
,3i
and−i
/2.I
fweaddorsubt
ractar
eal
numberandani
magi
nar
ynumber
,the
r
esul
tisacompl
exnumber
.Wewr
it
eacompl
exnumberasz=a+i
bwher
eaandb
ar
ereal
number
s

Compl
exnumber
sar
enumber
sthatconsi
stoft
wopar
ts—ar
eal
numberandan
i
magi
nar
ynumber
.Compl
exnumber
sar
ethebui
l
dingbl
ocksofmor
eint
ri
cat
emat
h,
suchasal
gebr
a.Theycanbeappl
i
edt
omanyaspect
sofr
eal
li
fe,
especi
all
yin
el
ect
roni
csandel
ect
romagnet
ism.

Thest
andar
dfor
matf
orcompl
exnumber
si a+bi
s  ,wi
tht
her
eal
numberf
ir
standt
he
i
magi
nar
ynumberl
ast
.Becauseei
therpar
tcoul
dbe0,
techni
cal
l
yany
 real
number
 or
 i
magi
nar
ynumber
 canbeconsi
der
edacompl
exnumber
.Compl
exdoesnot
meancompl
i
cat
ed;
itmeanst
hatt
het
wot
ypesofnumber
scombi
net
ofor
ma
compl
ex,
li
keahousi
ngcompl
ex—agr
oupofbui
l
dingsj
oinedt
oget
her
.

Real
number
sar
etangi
blev
aluest
hatcanbepl
ott
edonahor
izont
alnumberl
i
ne,
such
asf
ract
ions,
int
eger
soranycount
abl
enumbert
haty
oucant
hinkof
.Imagi
nar
y
number
sar
eabst
ractconcept
sthatar
eusedwheny
ouneedt
hesquar
erootofa
negat
ivenumber
.

Addi
ngandSubt
ract
ingCompl
exNumber
s
I oaddorsubt
fwewantt ractt
wocompl
exnumber
s,z1=a+i
bandz2=c+i
d,t
her
ule
i
stoaddt
her
eal
andi
magi
nar
ypar
tssepar
atel
y:
z1+z2=a+i
b+c+i
d=a+c+i
(b+d)
z1-z2=a+i
b-c-i
d=a-c+i
(b-d)
Exampl
e
a)(
( 1+i 3+i
)+( )=1+3+i
(1+1)=4+2i
b)(
( 2+5i
)-(
1-4i
)=2+5i
-1+4i=1+9i