NUMBER THEORY

SETS OF NUMBERS
Real Numbers
Rational Numbers
Natural Numbers ℕ
Natural numbers are the counting numbers {1, 2, 3, ...} Integers
Whole Numbers

Whole Numbers 𝕎 Natural Numbers

Whole numbers are the non-negative integers. {0, 1, 2, 3, ...}

Integers ℤ
Integers are the natural numbers and their negatives
{... −3, −2, −1, 0, 1, 2, 3, ...}.

Rational Numbers ℚ
Rational numbers are the ratios of integers, also called fractions, such as 1/2 = 0.5 or 4/3 = 1.333...
Rational decimal expansions end or repeat.

Real Numbers ℝ
Real numbers are all the numbers on the continuous number line. Real numbers may be rational or
irrational.

Imaginary Numbers
Imaginary numbers are numbers whose squares are negative. They are the square root of minus one,
i = √−1, and all real number multiples of i, such as 2i.

Other Types of Numbers

 Factors and Multiples
 Square Numbers
 Even Numbers
 Odd Numbers
 Prime Numbers
 Composite Numbers

1) Identify the sets to which the following numbers belong by marking the appropriate boxes.
Natural Whole Integer Rational Irrational Real Imaginary
6
9.673
−4
√17
√625
9𝑖

7
2) Arrange the numbers: 1.1, 2, √2, 1.45, 𝜋 in ascending order

3) List the factors of a) 36 b) 100

4) List the multiples of a)7 b) 15

5) Identify the HCF of the following numbers: 6) Identify the LCM of the following numbers:
a) 4, 6, 8 a) 4, 6, 8
b) 16, 24, 96 b) 16, 24, 96
c) 30, 60, 225 c) 30, 60, 225
d) 13, 39, 131 d) 13, 39, 131

Bases
In mathematics, a base is the number of different digits that a system of counting uses to represent
numbers. For example, the most common base used today is base 10 - the decimal system. It uses the
10 digits from 0 to 9.

A number is formed by grouping the digits together.

● Each digit has a fixed position called its place.
● The face value of a digit is the value of the digit itself
● Place value of a digit = (face value of the digit) × (value of the place)

(You should be able to state the value of a digit of a numeral in base 2, 4, 8 and 10)

Base 10 Base 4
In the number 3702 In the number 1320
the place value of 3 is 3000 the place value of 1 is
the place value of 7 is 700 the place value of 3 is
the place value of 0 is 0 the place value of 2 is
the place value of 2 is 2 the place value of 0 is

Base 8 Base 2
In the number 3702 In the number 1101
the place value of 3 is the place value of the first 1 is
the place value of 7 is the place value of the second 1 is
the place value of 0 is the place value of 0 is
the place value of 2 is the place value of the last 1 is

Practice – Base 2 and Base 8

(1)1 in binary is equal to (12) 110 in binary is equal to Solutions

( 2 ) 2 in octal is equal to (13) 40 in octal is equal to
1) 1 11) 931
( 3 ) 3 in octal is equal to (14) 66 in octal is equal to
2) 2 12) 6
( 4 ) 7 in octal is equal to (15) 117 in octal is equal to 13) 32
3) 3
( 5 ) 11110 in binary is equal to (16) 421 in octal is equal to 4) 7 14) 54
( 6 ) 111010 in binary is equal to (17) 526 in octal is equal to 5) 30 15) 79
( 7 ) 110011000 in binary is equal to (18) 110000000 in binary is 6) 58 16) 273
7) 408 17) 342
( 8 ) 111001111 in binary is equal to (19) 111110101 in binary is
8) 463 18) 384
( 9 ) 1066 in octal is equal to (20) 1001100001 in binary is 19) 501
9) 566
(10) 1011111100 in binary is equal to (21) 1101011101 in binary is 10) 764 20) 609
(11) 1110100011 in binary is equal to 21) 861