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Poll: Is “-3” a Whole Number?

2 points by ColinWright ↗ HN
I've recently been chatting with some people who have a very different background from mine, and someone talked about a "whole number". Conversation ensued, and I'm prompted to ask this question:

To you, is -3 a whole number?

3 comments

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mindcrime
I was always taught that the "whole numbers" were just the "natural numbers" ( eg, [1, ∞) ), plus 0. So, [0, ∞). If you include negatives, that would be the set of Integers.
uberman
Same here. With 0 being the extra "hole" added to the natural numbers.
ktpsns
I studied physics in Germany but never heard this word. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Whole_number clearly answers the raised question here, as the word seems to either mean "integer" or "natural number", two concepts with the obvious different meaning I am familiar with.