Set Notation

Special Number Sets

There are some number sets we refer to frequently and so we give them special symbols. Be sure to be very familiar with these special number sets as they may as well be tested in your algebra exam.

N is the natural numbers. This is also known as the counting numbers. 

Such numbers are numbers like 1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8 and may include 0 but must not be less than 0.

It can be any number equal or larger than 0 that is a WHOLE number...For example, you can have 432634623. Its a whole number. But you cannot have 8.8. Its a decimal. 

Integers

Z is a representation of all the integers. This includes ALL the whole numbers. Quite similar to all natural numbers but this time you can include Negative numbers such as -77.

Real Numbers

R is a representation of all real numbers, or basically any number you can think of. It can be a whole number, a decimal, a irrational function, any number that exists.