Whole Number

One of the numbers 1, 2, 3, ... (Sloane's A000027), also called the Counting Numbers or Natural Numbers. 0 is sometimes included in the list of ``whole'' numbers (Bourbaki 1968, Halmos 1974), but there seems to be no general agreement. Some authors also interpret ``whole number'' to mean ``a number having Fractional Part of zero,'' making the whole numbers equivalent to the integers.

Due to lack of standard terminology, the following terms are recommended in preference to ``Counting Number,'' ``Natural Number,'' and ``whole number.''

Set	Name	Symbol
..., $-2$, $-1$, 0, 1, 2, ...	integers	Z
1, 2, 3, 4, ...	positive integers	Z+
0, 1, 2, 3, 4 ...	nonnegative integers	Z*
$-1$, $-2$, $-3$, $-4$, ...	negative integers	Z-

See also Counting Number, Fractional Part, Integer, N, Natural Number, Z, Z+, Z+, Z*

References

Bourbaki, N. Elements of Mathematics: Theory of Sets. Paris, France: Hermann, 1968.

Halmos, P. R. Naive Set Theory. New York: Springer-Verlag, 1974.

Sloane, N. J. A. Sequence A000027/M0472 in ``An On-Line Version of the Encyclopedia of Integer Sequences.'' http://www.research.att.com/~njas/sequences/eisonline.html and Sloane, N. J. A. and Plouffe, S. The Encyclopedia of Integer Sequences. San Diego: Academic Press, 1995.