rational number

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noun Mathematics.

a number that can be expressed exactly by a ratio of two integers.

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Origin of rational number

First recorded in 1900–05

Words nearby rational number

rationalism, rationality, rationalization, rationalize, rationally, rational number, rational operation, rationing, rations, ratio scale, ratio test

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023

How to use rational number in a sentence

If you zoom in on a sequence of rational numbers, you might approach a number that itself is not rational.
An Infinite Universe of Number Systems|Kelsey Houston-Edwards|October 19, 2020|Quanta Magazine
“Our members continue to face a number of challenges,” she said.
The Republican War on Kale|Patricia Murphy|January 7, 2015|DAILY BEAST
The number of dissenters though is unprecedented in the modern era.
Democrats Accidentally Save Boehner From Republican Coup|Ben Jacobs, Jackie Kucinich|January 6, 2015|DAILY BEAST
Starting under Theodore Roosevelt and Howard Taft, embassies headed by career diplomats increased in number.
U.S. Embassies Have Always Been for Sale|William O’Connor|January 2, 2015|DAILY BEAST

The number of diplomats was pitiful (45 appointees in 1860), as was the amount of money allocated to them.
U.S. Embassies Have Always Been for Sale|William O’Connor|January 2, 2015|DAILY BEAST
Jett sees this number as a marker of how much the president allows professionals to do the job.
U.S. Embassies Have Always Been for Sale|William O’Connor|January 2, 2015|DAILY BEAST
The country is well inhabited, for it contains fifty-one cities, near a hundred walled towns, and a great number of villages.
Gulliver's Travels|Jonathan Swift
We had six field-pieces, but we only took four, harnessed wit twice the usual number of horses.
Blackwood's Edinburgh Magazine, No. CCCXXXIX. January, 1844. Vol. LV.|Various
There are a number of bacilli, called acid-fast bacilli, which stain in the same way as the tubercle bacillus.
A Manual of Clinical Diagnosis|James Campbell Todd
Five of the number had studied with Liszt before, and the young men are artists already before the public.
Music-Study in Germany|Amy Fay
I do not think the average number of passengers on a corresponding route in our country could be so few as twenty.
Glances at Europe|Horace Greeley

British Dictionary definitions for rational number

rational number

noun

any real number of the form a / b, where a and b are integers and b is not zero, as 7 or 7/3

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Scientific definitions for rational number

rational number

A number that can be expressed as an integer or a quotient of integers. For example, 2, -5, and 12 are rational numbers.