Welcome, everyone, to a quick dive into the world of numbers! Today, we’re unraveling a fundamental concept: What exactly is an integer?
Think about counting things, right? One apple, two friends, three books – these are what we call ‘whole numbers,’ starting from zero and going up: 0, 1, 2, 3, and so on. They represent full, complete items.
But what about when things go below zero? Like a really cold day at minus five degrees, or owing a friend two dollars. These situations introduce us to ‘negative numbers.’ They are the opposites of our positive whole numbers.
An integer, simply put, is any whole number – whether it’s positive, negative, or zero! So, numbers like -3, 0, 5, -100, or 247 are all integers.
What’s NOT an integer? Well, things that aren’t whole! So, fractions like half a pizza, or decimals like 3.75, are NOT integers, because they represent parts of a whole, not complete units.
Integers are everywhere, helping us count, measure temperature, track money, and understand positions above and below a reference point. They’re a core part of how we make sense of the world numerically!