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1 History
Simple fractions were used by the Egyptians around 1000
BC; the Vedic "Sulba Sutras" (The rules of chords)
in, c. 600 BC, include what may be the rst use of
irrational numbers. The concept of irrationality was implicitly accepted by early Indian mathematicians since
Manava (c. 750690 BC), who were aware that the
square roots of certain numbers such as 2 and 61 could
not be exactly determined.[1] Around 500 BC, the Greek
mathematicians led by Pythagoras realized the need for
irrational numbers, in particular the irrationality of the
square root of 2.
Real numbers (R) include the rational (Q), which include the integers (Z), which include the natural numbers (N)
DEFINITION
2 Denition
Main article: Construction of the real numbers
3.3
For another axiomatization of , see Tarskis axiomati- the Dedekind completeness of the order in the previous
zation of the reals.
section). This is formally dened in the following way:
A sequence (xn) of real numbers is called a Cauchy sequence if for any > 0 there exists an integer N (possibly
2.2 Construction from the rational num- depending on ) such that the distance |xn xm| is less
bers
than for all n and m that are both greater than N. In
other words, a sequence is a Cauchy sequence if its eleThe real numbers can be constructed as a completion of ments xn eventually come and remain arbitrarily close to
the rational numbers in such a way that a sequence de- each other.
ned by a decimal or binary expansion like (3; 3.1; 3.14;
A sequence (xn) converges to the limit x if for any > 0
3.141; 3.1415; ) converges to a unique real number, in
there exists an integer N (possibly depending on ) such
this case . For details and other constructions of real
that the distance |xn x| is less than provided that n is
numbers, see construction of the real numbers.
greater than N. In other words, a sequence has limit x if
its elements eventually come and remain arbitrarily close
to x.
3.1
Properties
Notice that every convergent sequence is a Cauchy sequence. The converse is also true:
Basic properties
xn
x
with an upper bound (e.g. 1.5) but no (rational) least up- e =
n!
n=0
per bound: hence the rational numbers do not satisfy the
least upper bound property.
converges to a real number because for every x the sums
3.2
Completeness
xn
n!
n=N
4
First, an order can be lattice-complete. It is easy to see
that no ordered eld can be lattice-complete, because it
can have no largest element (given any element z, z + 1 is
larger), so this is not the sense that is meant.
Additionally, an order can be Dedekind-complete, as dened in the section Axioms. The uniqueness result at the
end of that section justies using the word the in the
phrase complete ordered eld when this is the sense of
complete that is meant. This sense of completeness is
most closely related to the construction of the reals from
Dedekind cuts, since that construction starts from an ordered eld (the rationals) and then forms the Dedekindcompletion of it in a standard way.
3 PROPERTIES
numbers, and Cantors diagonal argument states that the
latter sets cardinality is strictly greater than the cardinality of N. Since the set of algebraic numbers is countable,
almost all real numbers are transcendental. The nonexistence of a subset of the reals with cardinality strictly
between that of the integers and the reals is known as the
continuum hypothesis. The continuum hypothesis can
neither be proved nor be disproved; it is independent from
the axioms of set theory.
4.2
In physics
4.2 In physics
4
4.1
4.3 In computation
With some exceptions, most calculators do not operate on real numbers. Instead, they work with niteprecision approximations called oating-point numbers.
In fact, most scientic computation uses oating-point
arithmetic. Real numbers satisfy the usual rules of arithmetic, but oating-point numbers do not.
( 2by)
manipulating formulas for them (such as 2 , arcsin 23
1
, or 0 xx dx ) rather than their rational or decimal
approximation;[11] however, it is not in general possible
to determine whether two such expressions are equal (the
constant problem).
9 FOOTNOTES
4.4
The real numbers can be generalized and extended in several dierent directions:
The complex numbers contain solutions to all
polynomial equations and hence are an algebraically
closed eld unlike the real numbers. However, the
complex numbers are not an ordered eld.
The anely extended real number system adds two
elements + and . It is a compact space. It is no
longer a eld, not even an additive group, but it still
has a total order; moreover, it is a complete lattice.
7 See also
Continued fraction
Real analysis
8 Notes
[1] More precisely, given two complete totally ordered elds,
there is a unique isomorphism between them. This implies
that the identity is the unique eld automorphism of the
reals that is compatible with the ordering.
9 Footnotes
[1] T. K. Puttaswamy, The Accomplishments of Ancient Indian Mathematicians, pp. 4101. In: Selin, Helaine;
D'Ambrosio, Ubiratan, eds. (2000), Mathematics Across
Cultures: The History of Non-western Mathematics,
Springer, ISBN 1-4020-0260-2.
[2] O'Connor, John J.; Robertson, Edmund F., Arabic
mathematics: forgotten brilliance?", MacTutor History of
Mathematics archive, University of St Andrews.
10
References
Georg Cantor, 1874, "ber eine Eigenschaft des Inbegries aller reellen algebraischen Zahlen", Journal fr die Reine und Angewandte Mathematik, volume 77, pages 258262.
Solomon Feferman, 1989, The Number Systems:
Foundations of Algebra and Analysis, AMS Chelsea,
ISBN 0-8218-2915-7.
Robert Katz, 1964, Axiomatic Analysis, D. C. Heath
and Company.
11 External links
Hazewinkel, Michiel, ed. (2001), Real number,
Encyclopedia of Mathematics, Springer, ISBN 9781-55608-010-4
The real numbers: Pythagoras to Stevin
The real numbers: Stevin to Hilbert
The real numbers: Attempts to understand
What are the real numbers, really?
12
12
12.1
12.2
Images
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/e/e8/Nuvola_apps_kmplot.svg License:
12.3
Content license
12.3
Content license