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Grouping or classifying is a familiar technique in the natural sciences for dealing with the immense diversity of things in the real world. For instance, in biology, plants and animals are divided into various phyla, and then into classes, orders, families, genera, and species. In much the same way, real numbers can be grouped or classified by singling out important features possessed by some numbers but not by others. By using the idea of a set, classification of real numbers can be accomplished with clarity and precision.
A set may be thought of as a collection of objects. Most sets considered in this tutorial are sets of real numbers. Any one of the objects in a set is called an element, or member, of the set. Sets are denoted either by capital letters such as ,  and  or by braces  enclosing symbols for the elements in the set. Thus, if we write  , we mean the set whose elements are the numbers  and  . Two sets are said to be equal if they contain precisely the same elements.
Sets of numbers and relations among such sets can often be visualized by the use of a number line or coordinate axis. A number line is constructed by fixing a point  called the origin and another point  called the unit point on a straight line  . The distance between  and  is called the unit distance and may be  inch,  centimeter, or  unit of whatever measure you choose. If the line  is horizontal, it is customary to place  to the right of  .
Each point  on the line  is now assigned a “numerical address” or coordinate  representing its signed distance from the origin, measured in terms of the given unit. Thus,  , where  is the distance between  and  ; the plus sign or minus sign is used to indicate whether  is to be right or left of  . Of course, the origin  is assigned the coordinate  (zero), and the unit point  is assigned the coordinate  . On the resulting number scale, each point  has a corresponding numerical coordinate  and each real number  is the coordinate of a uniquely determined point  . It is convenient to use an arrowhead on the number line to indicate the direction in which the numerical coordinates are increasing.
A set of numbers can be illustrated on a number line by shading or coloring the points whose coordinates are members of the sets.
For instance:
- The natural numbers, also called counting numbers or positive integers, are the numbers
 and so on, obtained by adding  over and over again. The set  of all natural numbers, denoted by the symbol  .
- The integer consist of all the natural numbers, the negatives of the natural numbers, and zero. The set of all integers
 denoted by the symbol  .
- The rational numbers are those numbers that can be written in the form
 , where  and  are integers and  . Since  may equal  , every integer is a rational number. Other examples of rational numbers are  ,  and  . The set of all rational numbers is denoted by the symbol  (which reminds us that rational numbers are quotients of integers). Rational numbers in decimal form either terminate or begin to repeat the same pattern indefinitely.
- The irrational numbers are the numbers that are not rational. Its decimal representation is non-terminating and non-repeating. Examples are
 ,  , and  .
- The union or combination of rational and irrational numbers are the Real Numbers. The positive real numbers correspond to point to the right of the origin, and the negative real numbers correspond to point to the left of the origin. The set of all real numbers is denoted by the symbol
 .
Rational Numbers and Decimals:
By using long division, you can express a rational number as a decimal. For instance, if you divide  by , you will obtain  , a terminating decimal. Similarly, if you divide  by  , you will obtain  , a non-terminating, repeating decimal. A repeating decimal, such as  , is often written as  , where the over bar indicates the digit or digits that repeat; hence  .
Example: 1
Express each rational number as a decimal.
(a)  (b)  (c)  (d) 
Solution:
(a) 
(b) 
(c) 
(d) 
Example:
Express each terminating decimal as a quotient of integers.
(a)  (b)  (c) 
Solution:
(a) 
(b) 
(c) 
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