Last modified on August 3rd, 2023

chapter outline

 

Whole Numbers vs Integers

Whole numbers and integers are two groups of numbers used in mathematical calculations.

Whole Numbers

Whole numbers are numbers starting from 0 and moving up forever. A set of whole numbers looks like this:

{0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10,…}

They thus include 0 and every natural number. In another way, whole numbers include 0 and all positive numbers. However, they do not include fractions or decimals.

They can be shown on a number line as:

Whole Number Number Line

Examples

0, 5, 111, and 1340 are all whole numbers, but ½, 2.1, and -9 are not whole numbers.

Integers

An integer is a number that is without a fractional or a decimal part. It includes all positive numbers {1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6,…}, negative numbers {…−1, −2,−3, −4, -5, -6,…}, and zero {0}. Thus all whole numbers are integers. Taking together, a set of integers looks like this:

{…,-6, -5,-4,-3, -2, -1, 0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6,…}

They can be shown on a number line as:

Integer Number Line

Examples

−16, −9, 0, 1, and 55 are all integers, but ½, 2.1, and 4.5 are not integers.

Thus the main difference is that all whole numbers are integers, but all integers are not whole numbers. The difference can be well represented using a Venn diagram:

Whole Number vs Integer

FAQs

Q.1.What are some integers that are not whole numbers?

Ans. Negative integers such as -2, -5, and -100 are not whole numbers.

Last modified on August 3rd, 2023

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