number line

American  

noun

Mathematics.

1. a straight line on which there is indicated a one-to-one correspondence between points on the line and the set of real numbers.

---

number line British  

noun

1. an infinite line on which points represent the real numbers

---

Etymology

Origin of number line

First recorded in 1955–60

Example Sentences

Even such bonkers-looking numbers, however, together with all the rational numbers, make up only a tiny fraction of the real numbers, or numbers that can appear along a number line.

From Scientific American • May 23, 2023

The rest of the numbers on the number line are irrational numbers.

From Scientific American • May 23, 2023

But it turns out that if you happened to pick out a number at random on a number line, you would almost certainly draw a “noncomputable” number.

From Scientific American • May 23, 2023

The absolute value of a number is its distance from 0 on the number line.

From Textbooks • May 6, 2020

It had a specific value, a fixed place on the number line.

From "Zero: The Biography of a Dangerous Idea" by Charles Seife