Meaning & use

rational number

noun·Academic

A number that can be written as a fraction of two integers, with a nonzero denominator.

See it in a sentence

Three-quarters is a rational number because it can be written as the fraction three over four.

Unlike pi, most rational numbers can be expressed exactly as a simple fraction or decimal.

A note on using this word

Every integer is also a rational number, since it can be written as itself divided by one; numbers like pi are not rational.

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