Difference between revisions of "Natural number"
Jump to navigation
Jump to search
(I regard Wolfram as supremely authoritative) |
(death to {{stub}}s) |
||
| Line 1: | Line 1: | ||
| − | |||
| − | |||
According to most modern [[mathematics]] and [[logic]] textbooks a '''natural number''' is a non-negative [[integer]] such as 0, 1, 2, 3,... etc. <ref>Unfortunately, 0 is sometimes also included in the list of "natural" numbers (Bourbaki 1968, Halmos 1974), and there seems to be no general agreement about whether to include it. In fact, Ribenboim (1996) states "Let P be a set of natural numbers; whenever convenient, it may be assumed that 0 in P." [http://mathworld.wolfram.com/NaturalNumber.html (Wolfram)] </ref> | According to most modern [[mathematics]] and [[logic]] textbooks a '''natural number''' is a non-negative [[integer]] such as 0, 1, 2, 3,... etc. <ref>Unfortunately, 0 is sometimes also included in the list of "natural" numbers (Bourbaki 1968, Halmos 1974), and there seems to be no general agreement about whether to include it. In fact, Ribenboim (1996) states "Let P be a set of natural numbers; whenever convenient, it may be assumed that 0 in P." [http://mathworld.wolfram.com/NaturalNumber.html (Wolfram)] </ref> | ||
Older books sometimes exclude [[zero]], as there is a long history of people thinking that zero is unnatural or not really a number. | Older books sometimes exclude [[zero]], as there is a long history of people thinking that zero is unnatural or not really a number. | ||
[[Category:Mathematics]] | [[Category:Mathematics]] | ||
Revision as of 00:40, August 23, 2007
According to most modern mathematics and logic textbooks a natural number is a non-negative integer such as 0, 1, 2, 3,... etc. [1] Older books sometimes exclude zero, as there is a long history of people thinking that zero is unnatural or not really a number.
- ↑ Unfortunately, 0 is sometimes also included in the list of "natural" numbers (Bourbaki 1968, Halmos 1974), and there seems to be no general agreement about whether to include it. In fact, Ribenboim (1996) states "Let P be a set of natural numbers; whenever convenient, it may be assumed that 0 in P." (Wolfram)