Describe the relationship between rational numbers and whole numbers. Are all rational numbers also whole numbers? Are all whole numbers also rational numbers? Give examples to support your answer

1 answer

The relationship between rational numbers and whole numbers is that every whole number can be considered a rational number, but not all rational numbers can be whole numbers.

A rational number is any number that can be expressed as a fraction, where the numerator and denominator are both integers. For example, 1/2, 4/3, and -3/5 are all rational numbers.

On the other hand, a whole number is a non-negative integer, including zero. Examples of whole numbers are 0, 1, 2, 3, and so on.

Since every integer can be expressed as a fraction with a denominator of 1, we can say that every whole number is a rational number. For instance, 5 can be represented as 5/1, and 0 can be represented as 0/1.

However, not all rational numbers are whole numbers. For example, 1/2 is a rational number but not a whole number because it is not an integer. Similarly, -3/5 is a rational number but not a whole number since it is negative.

In summary, every whole number can be considered a rational number, but not every rational number can be a whole number.