real number

quantity along a continuous line

AI overview

A real number is any quantity that can be placed on a continuous line, including whole numbers, fractions, and numbers like pi that can't be expressed as simple fractions. Real numbers matter because they allow us to measure and describe nearly everything in the physical world, from distances and temperatures to speeds and amounts.

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Image: Number-line.svg

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Commons category: Real numbers
Stack Exchange tag: math.stackexchange.com/tags/real-numbers

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Article

Real numbers can be thought of as all points on a number line.

In mathematics, a real number is a number that can be used to measure a continuous one-dimensional quantity such as a length, duration or temperature. Here, continuous means that pairs of values can have arbitrarily small differences. Every real number can be almost uniquely represented by an infinite decimal expansion.