Natural and Whole Numbers – Review

Table of Contents

• Natural Numbers – Definition
• Whole Numbers – Definition
• Importance of Zero
• Summary
• Did You Know?
• What’s Next?

Before we begin the chapter on Integers, we will revise the concepts of Whole numbers and Natural numbers in this segment.

What are Natural numbers?

• The numbers that are used for counting are called Natural numbers.
• Natural numbers include 1, 2, 3, 4 and so on.
• As these numbers are used for counting of objects, they are also known as Counting numbers.

What are Whole numbers?

• All-natural numbers and zero are Whole numbers.
• Whole numbers include 0, 1, 2, 3, 4, and so on.
• Thus, the set of whole numbers will consist of natural numbers and a zero.

Why do we use zero?

Zero is not a natural number as it cannot be used to count any object.

Zero is an important number. For example,

If there is a box of empty chocolates, it means the box contains 0 chocolates. Similarly, in the case of a thermometer, sometimes the temperature is close to 0\[0^{\circ} C \].

Summary

Natural Numbers	Numbers used for counting 1, 2, 3, 4 and so on
Whole Numbers	All the natural numbers and zero