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6th grade
Course: 6th grade > Unit 6
Lesson 2: Whole numbers & integersWhole numbers & integers
Walk through the difference between whole numbers & integers. For example, is the number -8 a whole number? Is it an integer?
First we'll learn about whole numbers, then we'll learn about integers, and we'll finish by thinking about whole numbers and integers at the same time.
Whole numbers
Whole numbers are the numbers starting at 0 and counting up forever:
Key idea:
Whole numbers don't include negative numbers, fractions, or decimals.
Sweet, let's move onto integers.
Integers
Integers are just like whole numbers, but they also include negative numbers:
Key idea: Like whole numbers, integers don't include fractions or decimals.
Great, now that we've learned both whole numbers and integers, we're ready to classify numbers.
Classifying numbers
Challenge problem
Want to join the conversation?
- why aren't decimals whole numbers?(5 votes)
- Decimals aren't whole numbers because decimals are part of wholes.(83 votes)
- Why are negative numbers not considered whole number, yet are considered integers? And what is the difference between a whole number and an integer? I have only just started to learn the topic, but it helps me to understand why things are how they are. I can not learn when people teach things by answering similar questions with because thats the way it is. Everything has to have reason behind it, or else its just an opinion, and can never be proven as fact. Thank you(27 votes)
- A integer is any number that is not either a decimal or a fraction (however, both 2.000 and 2/2 are integers because they can be simplified into non-decimal and non-fractional numbers), this includes negative numbers. A whole number is any positive number(0 through infinity) (including non-integers)(15 votes)
- Since 0 is whole number would it be an integer?(10 votes)
- That's right! All whole numbers are integers, so since 0 is a whole number, 0 is also an integer.(16 votes)
- No,integers include all numbers except decimals and fractions(18 votes)
- What is a fraction if it is not an integer or a whole number? And what is a decimal?(4 votes)
- Fractions and decimals are rational numbers, just like integers and whole numbers.
Hope this helps!(7 votes)
- Is it possible to divide and multiply integers that are negative?(3 votes)
- Yes, we can multiply and divide any integers, except for division by zero. The result will be a rational number.(4 votes)
- why aren't negative fractions integers(3 votes)
- Because no type of fraction is an integer.(3 votes)
- Why are negative numbers integers?(3 votes)
- Ok, so 0 is an integer because it's a whole number, but 0 doesn't have an opposite...(2 votes)
- The opposite of 0 is -0, which equals to 0. Just like that the reciprocal of 1 is 1/1 !(3 votes)
- it said that integers are just like whole numbers, but also include negatives. If so, then why is "all integers are whole numbers" wrong?(2 votes)
- You can think of it like this: Whole numbers start from zero and include every single positive number that doesn't involve fractions or decimals. Integers add onto this set of numbers, as they include negatives but otherwise share the same rules. Therefore, all whole numbers will be an integer (as whole numbers are all the positive integers), but not all integers (since some are negative) will be whole numbers.(2 votes)