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From the time that you entered school in Kindergarten you began learning about different types of numbers. Probably the first kind you gained experience with were the "counting numbers" or positive integers. As you matured and were ready to handle more infomation other types of numbers were added. "Whole Numbers" added zero to the "counting numbers", "fractions/decimals" made you aware that parts of numbers were possible, and "negative integers and fractions" showed you a whole world of numbers which were the images of their positive counterparts. All of these numbers belong to a group called The formal definition of a "Rational Number" is any number which can be expressed as a quotient of two other numbers, ie. 5 = 5/1, .04 = 4/100, etc. Now it is time to learn that other numbers exist outside of this group. The group of non terminating and non repeating decimals must be added to the list, but they enter in their own group called 36 may look a little unusual, BUT is is not irrational because the value = 6 or 6/1, ie. rational. 35 is a different story since when evaluated on a calculator, the entire display is filled with numbers. In fact, you are not even seeing them all. They continue "forever" without ever repeating or stopping, ie. irrational. Other examples of irrational numbers are: 51, 72, or 20. Basically (any non perfect square #) is irrational. Since these numbers exist as a new group, we need to learn to perform the basic operations with them. |