Monday, June 30, 2008

Function

Real numbers

Most applications of mathematics use real numbers. For purposes of such applications,it suffices to think of a real number as a decimal. A rational number is one that may be written as a finite or infinite repeating decimal, such as

-5/2=-2.5, 1, 13/3 = 4.333... (rational numbers).

An irrational number has an infinite decimal representation whose digits form no repeating pattern, such as

-sqrt(2)=-1.414214..., pi = 3.14159... (irrational numbers).


We use four types of inequalities to compare real numbers.

x <> y , x is greater than y
x >= y , x is greater than or equal to y

Next : Functions