Natural number

The natural numbers are the numbers (0), 1,2,3,etc. used for counting, and for enumerating an ordered sequence. As such they are the basis of all numbers used in everyday life for calculating and measuring. They are also used to indicate the number of equal parts into which a unit of measure is divided, and how many of such parts are needed for a measurement, thus being the basis for fractions and rational numbers.

Because of their importance every culture has developed a numeral system for representing and manipulating natural numbers, both in oral and in written language. Now the decimal system is almost universally used to write natural numbers while -- depending on history and the context -- other methods (e.g., Roman numerals) still coexist.

Moreover, since ancient times the natural numbers have been a subject for study independent of their practical value.

In modern mathematics, the natural numbers are either defined axiomatically by the Peano axioms, i.e., they are characterized by their properties or, in set theory, as a specific set that serves as a concrete object (model) which can be shown to have the desired properties, i.e., to satisfy the Peano axioms.

Is zero a natural number?
Whether 0 is a natural number or not is not a mathematical question but the matter of an essentially arbitrary definition, a decision which depends on the context and on personal taste. Historically, 0 was not considered as a "number" because it means that there is "nothing to count". In modern mathematics, in particular because of set theory and the concept of cardinality, 0 is usually included into the natural numbers.

Decimal system

In principle, a natural number could be represented by the corresponding number of dots, strokes, or similar. But this soon becomes impractical if the numbers get large.

Therefore, decimal numerals are used as a sort of shorthand: They are written with ten digits — 0,1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9 — which represent the numbers zero, one, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine. Larger numbers are represented by a sequence of digits, e.g., 325. Such a numeral is read starting from the right. The first (rightmost) digit represents the corresponding number of dots (in the example: five); the next (second-left) represents the corresponding number of groups of ten dots (in the example: two groups of ten dots each), the next digit indicates the corresponding number of "groups of ten groups of ten dots" (in the example, three groups of ten times ten dots), and so on.

Arithmetic

Elementary arithmetic with natural numbers is based on addition: Adding two natural numbers is equivalent to counting two sets in sequence. (This is equivalent to the mathematical notion of adding cardinal numbers.)

Addition of two numbers is written with a plus sign "+", and the result is called the sum of the two numbers.

e.g., 2 + 3 = 5, read "two plus three equals (or makes) five"

If an equation like 2 + n = 5 can be solved then its solution is called the difference of these two numbers and is written with a minus sign "-":

e.g., 5 - 2 = 3, read "five minus two equals (or makes) three".

Addition of two or more numbers does not depend on the order in which they are added.

Multiplication can be considered as multiple addition, and the result is called product:

e.g., "3 times 5" means "5 plus 5 plus 5" (three summands of five).

It is written with a times sign "×" (or a central dot "•").

e.g., 3 • 5 = 15, read "three times five equals (or makes) fifteen"

Multiplication of two or more numbers also does not depend on the order in which they are multiplied: 3 • 2 = 2+2+2 = 6 = 3+3 = 2 • 3.

Exponentiation can be considered as multiple multiplication.

Peano axioms

During the 19th century the foundations of mathematics which, of course, include the concept of number became a major topic of discussion and research. In 1889 Giuseppe Peano published a system of axioms that characterizes the natural numbers. The axioms, essentially, state that eventually every natural number will be reached if one starts to count at 0 (or 1, if that is preferred) and proceeds from that by stepping from one number to the next. The axioms are usually given as follows:

(1) 0 is a natural number.

(2) Every natural number has a unique successor.

(3) 0 is not the successor of a natural number.

(4) Different natural numbers have different successors.

(5) If a property of natural numbers is such that:

0 has the property, and

if a natural number has the property then its successor has it as well.

Then every natural number has this property

The last axiom is equivalent to the following property:

(5a) Any non-empty set of natural numbers has a least element.

In these axioms, the first (least) element is taken to be 0, but this is arbitrary. It can be replaced by 1 (or any other number).

Axiom (5) (or (5a)) is the basis for proofs by induction, and for definition by recursion.

Set theoretic model

In modern mathematics, sets are used as a basis on which all other theories are built. In this context it is therefore necessary to construct a model which incorporates the natural numbers as sets such that the axioms can be verified (using the axioms of set theory). from the properties of these sets. Such constructions indeed exist of which one has particularly "nice" properties, and which is consequently usually used.

The construction starts with the number 0. It is represented by the empty set which has no – or 0 – elements.
The number 1 is represented by a set which has one single element, namely the number 0 (i.e., the empty set).
Next, 2 is represented by a set which has precisely 2 elements, the numbers 0 and 1.
3 is represented by a set with 3 elements (0,1,2), etc.
In general, an arbitrary number n is represented by a set with precisely n elements, the numbers 0,1,2,..,n-1, i.e., the (previously constructed) numbers smaller than n.

This construction can be extended (in a natural way) to both the infinite cardinal numbers and the infinite ordinal numbers.