How to introduce numbers easily?
Mathematics means
numbers. Numbers are born from the basis of counting.
Simple learning aids
like tamarind seeds or beads are enough to teach and learn counting.
'One' is the beginning
of counting. It is also the smallest number in counting. If you start counting
from one it goes on endlessly. Its result cannot be stopped anywhere, be it
thousand, lakh or crore. These numbers used for counting become natural
numbers.
By giving tamarind seeds
or beads and asking them to count, they can count them and say a number
numerically. How can you tell the number of a tamarind seed or a bell if you
are not given it?
You will ask how to
calculate without giving anything. There is nothing to count on. I mean not
even one. This nothingness is zero.
If we combine zero with
the natural numbers that make up the set of numbers called whole numbers.
Natural numbers start
at one and go to infinity whereas whole numbers start at zero and go to
infinity. Now you have an infinite set of numbers starting from zero.
Next imagine such an
event. An airplane flies 500 meters in the sky above sea level. Similarly, a
submarine travels at a depth of 500 meters below sea level. How would you tell
the heights of these two?
One is above sea level.
The other is below sea level. Both upstream and downstream are exactly 500
meters apart. But don't you understand that 500 meters above and 500 meters
below are not the same. It is to differentiate this that the numbers have to be
given plus and minus value of character. A convention used in mathematics is
that an airplane flying above is given a positive value that is +500 meters and
a submarine traveling below is given a negative value that is -500.
From this it is clear
that for every number in plus value we can say a number in minus value. That
is, if we say a number +2, we can also say a number -2, right? So numbers can
be divided into positive numbers and negative numbers.
With the whole number system
we have already seen, we can connect the set of numbers -1, -2, -3, ... to its
left side. What do we get now? Isn't the set of positive numbers to the right
of the zero and negative numbers to the left?
Does the set of numbers
become … -3, -2, -1, 0, 1, 2, 3, …? We call this collection as integers. That
is, a set of numbers consisting of whole numbers and negative numbers. In this
case we call the numbers with positive values as plus numbers and the numbers with negative
values as minus numbers.
Is that all the number
set? Are there any other number sets you ask?
It just needs some more
number sets. Now take two numbers zero and one. The question is whether there
are any other numbers between these two numbers or not. Let's see where you
answer. Are you saying no? That's not it. There are infinite numbers between
these two numbers.
How can there be other
numbers between zero and one? All the numbers we have mentioned so far are
integer numbers. That's why we mentioned its name as integers. In that case,
there are numbers i.e. half, quarter and three-quarter.
What do you think it
will be like? Let's say you buy an apple. Suppose you only have money to buy
one apple. Just as you are about to buy an apple and eat it, your beloved
friend arrives. What will you do now? You don't even have money to buy another
apple. You will divide the apple in two and share it with your friend. Now you
have shared the whole apple? Half an apple. That means you only shared half of
the apple that wasn't whole. How would you say this in numbers? You will say one
by two in fractional form. We call this half the case. Now think where this
half will be. It is somewhere between zero and one. That is half of one.
Similarly, numbers like quarter and three quarters are also in between. Not only
this, but there are infinite number of fractional numbers between them.
Similarly there are infinitely many fractional numbers between two integers.
These fractional
numbers are called rational numbers. i.e. rational numbers. Then there are
numbers that are not irrational. What do you think it would look like? Numbers
like square root of two, square root of third, pi which is used in circumference
and area of a circle belong to that category.
So many numbers? If you
ask if you would like to say that there are any imaginary numbers, there are
also numbers called complex numbers. Don't let your imagination run wild about
it just yet. You can also imagine complex numbers in ninth grade in Tamilnadu
syllabus as you go through each grade step by step.
I hope you find this
introduction to numbers useful. If you have any other doubt or difficulty in
understanding then share your thoughts about it in the comment box.
We will continue to
travel with mathematics in the coming days.
Thanks kids and math
lovers.
*****
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