Poll: Is “-3” a whole number?

Posted by ColinWright on Monday September 05, 2016 @12:24PM
from the you-decide dept.

I've been having a discussion with a number of parents, teachers, mathematicians, engineers, and others, about what exactly is a "whole number."

Opinions vary, and it's certainly possible just to come up with a technical definition and say "That's the most convenient, that's what we'll use." But I'm interested to know what the community here on HN thinks.

Is "-3" a whole number?

( 14 comments | 10 points | on HN )

Poll

Yes 13 votes

No 12 votes

Other 1 vote

It depends 2 votes

Re:Poll: Is “-3” a whole number? by throwaway000002 on Monday September 05, 2016 @01:16PM (#12431297)

Never met a whole -3 pizzas, nor a whole 0 pizzas for that matter.

That should be enough for you to deduce what I believe whole numbers are.

I should add, for a mathematical audience, I'd be careful, because of possible confusion, and insist on saying positive integers, and non-negative integers in the case of what I'd call the natural numbers.

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:Poll: Is “-3” a whole number? by victorhugo31337 on Monday September 05, 2016 @01:20PM (#12431322)

Pragmatically I believe you are correct. I think negative whole numbers and zero are also a subset of "whole numbers" along with positive whole numbers.

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:Poll: Is “-3” a whole number? by jungletek on Monday September 05, 2016 @09:00PM (#12433083)

I believe you meant "real numbers" rather than your quoted "whole numbers" in your second sentence.

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Re:Poll: Is “-3” a whole number? by jonsen on Monday September 05, 2016 @04:07PM (#12432005)

It's a hole number. Minus three means three things are missing leaving three holes.

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:Poll: Is “-3” a whole number? by MTemer on Monday September 05, 2016 @07:56PM (#12432888)

this sounds like "it's holes all the way down"

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Re:Poll: Is “-3” a whole number? by phaemon on Monday September 05, 2016 @12:30PM (#12431096)

I just went with what I was taught in school, where the "whole numbers" were just the natural numbers.

My feeling now is I don't suppose it really matters how you define them. :)

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Re:Poll: Is “-3” a whole number? by jungletek on Monday September 05, 2016 @08:58PM (#12433077)

https://www.mathsisfun.com/numbers/real-numbers.html

Note that 'real numbers' include 'whole numbers' as a sub-set.

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:Poll: Is “-3” a whole number? by detaro on Monday September 05, 2016 @01:10PM (#12431273)

Surprising how split it is, I'd never have thought that 50% would say "No".

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Re:Poll: Is “-3” a whole number? by maxerickson on Monday September 05, 2016 @01:18PM (#12431310)

It's commonly taught that way.

http://mathworld.wolfram.com/WholeNumber.html

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Re:Poll: Is “-3” a whole number? by detaro on Monday September 05, 2016 @01:20PM (#12431325)

Seems to be an interesting case of a "false friend" then. The direct translation from/to German ("ganze Zahl"/"Ganzzahl") is very clearly defined as including the negative ones, and taught as such, in contrast to the natural numbers.

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Re:Poll: Is “-3” a whole number? by victorhugo31337 on Monday September 05, 2016 @01:08PM (#12431259)

Whole number: "a number without fractions; an integer."

#include <stdio.h>

int main(int argc, char *argv[]) {

    int num = -3;

    fprintf(stdout, "%d\n", num);

return 0;

}

Some people say whole numbers are not negative, while other people say zero is also not a whole number.

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:Poll: Is “-3” a whole number? by TopologyDough on Monday September 05, 2016 @06:08PM (#12432485)

This is a definition question. Mathematically negative numbers are not whole numbers. This information is of little value without context though.

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:Poll: Is “-3” a whole number? by SamReidHughes on Tuesday September 06, 2016 @12:46AM (#12433724)

For me it was defined as the non-negative integers in middle school, the same moment the naturals were defined to be the positive integers.

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:Poll: Is “-3” a whole number? by jsnk on Monday September 05, 2016 @12:30PM (#12431099)

Whole numbers: The numbers {0, 1, 2, 3, …}.

[ Parent | on HN ]