I am asked to list the whole numbers in a list of:

-38, -8/5, 0, 0.3 (repeating), 4.5, square root of 30, 52

I get that 0 and 52 are whole numbers, but by definition, whole numbers are counting numbers and their opposites, so wouldn't -38 also be a whole number?

The answer in the book says only 0 and 52 are whole numbers and not -38.

When asked what the integers are, it says -38, 0, and 52 are integers. I agree with that, but think those are also whole numbers.

Please explain the difference.

1 answer

-38 is an integer
whole numbers are not negative (0,1,2,...)
natural numbers do not even include 0 (1,2,3,...)
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