number line

American  

noun

Mathematics.

• number lines
  plural

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.

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number line British  

noun

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

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Other Word Forms

Noun Inflected Forms

• number lines
  plural

Etymology

Origin of number line

First recorded in 1955–60

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

number line

For example, the number line is infinite, regardless of whether you start it at –∞, 0 or 1.

From Scientific American ● Jul. 13, 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

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 absolute value function is often thought of as providing the distance the number is from zero on a number line.

From Textbooks ● Sep. 23, 2020

So we can cover the infinite cohorts of rational numbers in the number line with a set of carpets, and the total size of the carpets is 2.

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