Grade 10 Math by High School Science, Rory Adams, et al - HTML preview

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Rational Numbers

1. Introduction

As described in the chapter on review of past work, a number is a way of representing quantity. The numbers that will be used in high school are all real numbers, but there are many different ways of writing any single real number.

This chapter describes rational numbers.

Figure 5. Khan Academy video on Integers and Rational Numbers


2. The Big Picture of Numbers

Figure 6. 

The Big Picture of Numbers


The term whole number does not have a consistent definition. Various authors use it in many different ways. We use the following definitions:

  • natural numbers are (1, 2, 3, ...)

  • whole numbers are (0, 1, 2, 3, ...)

  • integers are (... -3, -2, -1, 0, 1, 2, 3, ....)

3. Definition

The following numbers are all rational numbers.

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m31331.id282383.png

You can see that all denominators and all numerators are integers.

Definition: Rational Number

A rational number is any number which can be written as:

(46)
m31331.id282700.png

where a and b are integers and b ≠ 0.

Note

Only fractions which have a numerator and a denominator (that is not 0) that are integers are rational numbers.

This means that all integers are rational numbers, because they can be written with a denominator of 1.

Therefore

(47)
m31331.id282796.png

are not examples of rational numbers, because in each case, either the numerator or the denominator is not an integer.

A number may not be written as an integer divided by another integer, but may still be a rational number. This is because the results may be expressed as an integer divided by an integer. The rule is, if a number can be written as a fraction of integers, it is rational even if it can also be written in another way as well. Here are two examples that might not look like rational numbers at first glance but are because there are equivalent forms that are expressed as an integer divided by another integer:

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m31331.id282866.png

Rational Numbers

  1. If a is an integer, b is an integer and c is irrational, which of the following are rational numbers?

    Table 1.
    (i) m31331.id283103.png (ii) m31331.id283115.png (iii) m31331.id283127.png (iv) m31331.id283140.png

    Click here for the solution

  2. If m31331.id283165.png is a rational number, which of the following are valid values for a ?

    Table 2.
    (i) 1(ii) – 10 (iii) m31331.id283221.png (iv) 2,1

    Click here for the solution

4. Forms of Rational Numbers

All integers and fractions with integer numerators and denominators are rational numbers. There are two more forms of rational numbers.

Investigation : Decimal Numbers

You can write the rational number m31331.id283278.png as the decimal number 0,5. Write the following numbers as decimals:

  1. m31331.id283304.png

  2. m31331.id283325.png

  3. m31331.id283347.png

  4. m31331.id283369.png

  5. m31331.id283391.png

Do the numbers after the decimal comma end or do they continue? If they continue, is there a repeating pattern to the numbers?

You can write a rational number as a decimal number. Two types of decimal numbers can be written as rational numbers:

  1. decimal numbers that end or terminate, for example the fraction m31331.id283442.png can be written as 0,4.

  2. decimal numbers that have a repeating pattern of numbers, for example the fraction m31331.id283460.png can be written as m31331.id283471.png. The dot represents recurring 3's i.e., m31331.id283499.png.

For example, the rational number m31331.id283539.png can be written in decimal notation as m31331.id283550.png and similarly, the decimal number 0,25 can be written as a rational number as m31331.id283572.png.

Notation for Repeating Decimals

You can use a bar over the repeated numbers to indicate that the decimal is a repeating decimal.

5. Converting Terminating Decimals into Rational Numbers

A decimal number has an integer part and a fractional part. For example 10,589 has an integer part of 10 and a fractional part of 0,589 because 10 + 0,589 = 10,589. The fractional part can be written as a rational number, i.e. with a numerator and a denominator that are integers.

Each digit after the decimal point is a fraction with a denominator in increasing powers of ten. For example:

  • m31331.id283667.png is 0,1

  • m31331.id283688.png is 0,01

This means that:

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m31331.id283717.png

Fractions

  1. Write the following as fractions:

    Table 3.
    (a) 0,1 (b) 0,12 (c) 0,58 (d) 0,2589

    Click here for the solution

6. Converting Repeating Decimals into Rational Numbers

When the decimal is a repeating decimal, a bit more work is needed to write the fractional part of the decimal number as a fraction. We will explain by means of an example.

If we wish to write m31331.id283749.png in the form m31331.id283768.png (where a and b are integers) then we would proceed as follows

(50)
m31331.id283811.png

And another example would be to write m31331.id284105.png as a rational fraction.

(51)
m31331.id284152.png

For the first example, the decimal was multiplied by 10 and for the second example, the decimal was multiplied by 1000. This is because for the first example there was only one digit (i.e. 3) recurring, while for the second example there were three digits (i.e. 432) recurring.

In general, if you have one digit recurring, then multiply by 10. If you have two digits recurring, then multiply by 100. If you have three digits recurring, then multiply by 1000. Can you spot the pattern yet?

The number of zeros is the same as the number of recurring digits.

Not all decimal numbers can be written as rational numbers. Why? Irrational decimal numbers like m31331.id284481.png cannot be written with an integer numerator and denominator, because they do not have a pattern of recurring digits. However, when possible, you should try to use rational numbers or fractions instead of decimals.

Repeated Decimal Notation

  1. Write the following using the repeated decimal notation:

    1. 0,11111111...

    2. 0,1212121212...

    3. 0,123123123123...

    4. 0,11414541454145...

    Click here for the solution

  2. Write the following in decimal form, using the repeated decimal notation:

    1. m31331.id284605.png

    2. m31331.id284618.png

    3. m31331.id284635.png

    4. m31331.id284651.png

    Click here for the solution

  3. Write the following decimals in fractional form:

    1. m31331.id284692.png

    2. m31331.id284715.png

    3. m31331.id284736.png

    Click here for the solution

7. Summary

  1. Real numbers can be either rational or irrational.

  2. A rational number is any number which can be written as m31331.id284790.png where a and b are integers and b ≠ 0

  3. The following are rational numbers:

    1. Fractions with both denominator and numerator as integers.

    2. Integers.

    3. Decimal numbers that end.

    4. Decimal numbers that repeat.

8. End of Chapter Exercises

  1. If a is an integer, b is an integer and c is irrational, which of the following are rational numbers?

    1. m31331.id284964.png

    2. m31331.id284977.png

    3. m31331.id284990.png

    4. m31331.id285004.png

    Click here for the solution

  2. Write each decimal as a simple fraction:

    1. 0,5

    2. 0,12

    3. 0,6

    4. 1,59

    5. m31331.id285083.png

    Click here for the solution

  3. Show that the decimal m31331.id285121.png is a rational number. Click here for the solution

  4. Express m31331.id285168.png as a fraction m31331.id285189.png where a,b ∈ Z (show all working). Click here for the solution