Real Numbers and their Properties

Types of Numbers

• Z+ Natural numbers - counting numbers -

1, 2, 3, . . . The textbook uses the notation
N.

• Z Integers - 0, ±1, ±2, ±3, . . . The textbook

uses the notation J.

• Q Rationals - quotients (ratios) of integers.

• R Reals - may be visualized as correspond-

ing to all points on a number line.

The reals which are not rational are called ir-

rational.
Z+ ⊂ Z ⊂ Q ⊂ R.

R ⊂ C, the field of complex numbers, but in

this course we will only consider real numbers.

Properties of Real Numbers

There are four binary operations which take a
pair of real numbers and result in another real
number:

Addition (+), Subtraction (−), Multiplication

(× or ·), Division (÷ or /).

These operations satisfy a number of rules. In

the following, we assume a, b, c ∈ R. (In other
words, a, b and c are all real numbers.)

• Closure: a + b ∈ R, a · b ∈ R.

This means we can add and multiply real num-

bers. We can also subtract real numbers and
we can divide as long as the denominator is
not 0.

• Commutative Law: a + b = b + a, a · b = b · a.

This means when we add or multiply real num-

bers, the order doesn’t matter.

• Associative Law: (a + b) + c = a + (b + c),

(a · b) · c = a · (b · c).

We can thus write a + b + c or a · b · c without

having to worry that different people will get
different results.

• Distributive Law: a · (b + c) = a · b + a · c,
(a + b) · c = a · c + b · c.

The distributive law is the one law which in-

volves both addition and multiplication. It is
used in two basic ways: to multiply two factors
where one factor has more than one term and
to factor out a common factor when we add
or subtract a number of terms, all of which
contain a common factor.

• 0 is the additive identity, 1 is the multiplica-

tive identity.

a + 0 = 0 + a = a, a · 1 = 1 · a = a

• Additive Inverse: Every a ∈ R has an additive

inverse, denoted by −a, such that a+(−a) = 0,
the additive identity.

• Multiplicative Inverse: Every a ∈ R except

for 0 has a multiplicative inverse, denoted by
a−1 or 1a , such that a · a−1 = a−1 · a = 1, the
multiplicative inverse.

• Cancellation Law for Addition: If a+c = b+c,

then a = b. This follows from the existence of
an additive inverse (and the other laws), since
if a + c = b + c, then a + c + (−c) = b + c + (−c),
so a + 0 = b + 0 and hence a = b.

• Cancellation Law for Multiplication: If a · c =

b · c and c 6= 0, then a = b. This follows from
the existence of an multiplicative inverse for c
(and the other laws), since if a · c = b · c, then
a · c · c−1 = b · c · c−1, so a · 1 = b · 1 and hence
a = b.

From these rules, we can see why multiplica-

tion by 0 gives 0: a · 0 + 0 = a · 0 = a · (0 + 0) =
a · 0 + a · 0. Thus a · 0 + 0 = a · 0 + a · 0 and from
the cancellation law it follows that 0 = a · 0.

We can now see why multiplication by −1 yields

the additive inverse of a number: a + (−1) · a =
1 · 1 + (−1) · a = (1 + (−1)) · a = 0 · a = 0.

We can also see why the product of a positive

number and a negative number must be nega-
tive, and the product of two negative numbers
is positive. More generally, we can see that
(−a) · b = −a · b as follows: a · b + (−a) · b =
(a + (−a)) · b = 0 · b = 0, so (−a) · b must be the
additive inverse of a · b, in other words, −a · b.
Subtraction and Division
All the above rules concern addition and multi-
plication. Those are the basic operations; sub-
traction and division are really special cases of
addition and multiplication.
Definition 1 (Subtraction). a − b = a + (−b).
Definition 2 (Division). a ÷ b = a · b−1.

Alternate Notations: a ÷ b = a/b = ab .

This explains why division by 0 is undefined: 0

does not have a multiplicative inverse.

We also get a Cancellation Law for division: If

b 6= 0 and c 6= 0, then ac
bc =
a.
b

It’s important to use the Cancellation Law cor-

rectly; one may only cancel a factor which is
common to both the numerator and the de-
nominator. Often, students incorrectly try to
cancel something that is a factor of a term
of the numerator or denominator, but not a
factor of the numerator or denominator itself.
Terms and Factors

There is a technical difference between terms

and factors, and the word term is often mis-
used when one is actually referring to a factor.

Terms are added together.

Factors are multiplied together.

x3 + 5x2 − 3x + 2 has four terms: x3, 5x2, 3x

and 2.

Technically, one might want to think of −3x

rather than 3x as the term, thinking of x3 +
5x2 − 3x + 2 as x3 + 5x2 + (−3x) + 2, but the
common practice is to call 3x a term.

x3 + 5x2 − 3x + 2 consists of just one factor.

(x2 + 5x − 3)(2x + 1) has just one term, but
two factors. The first factor, x2 + 5x − 3 has
three terms and the second factor, 2x + 1, has
two terms, but the entire expression, looked at
as a whole, has just one term.
The Substitution Principle

A basic principle in algebra is sometimes called

substitution. The basic idea is that, in any
algebraic expression, anthing can be replaced
by anything else that is equal to it.

This is used extensively in solving equations,

but is also used a lot in just simplifying alge-
braic (and trigonometric) expressions.
Absolute Value
Definition
 3 (Absolute Value).
a if a ≥ 0,
|a| =
−a if a < 0.

Properties of Absolute Value

|a| ≥ 0

| − a| = |a|

|a · b| = |a| · |b|

|a|
 
a
 b  = |b| if b 6= 0.
Exponents

Positive integer exponents: If n ∈ Z+, an =

a · a · a . . . a, where the product consists of n
identical factors, all equal to a.

Negative exponents: a−n = a1n if a 6= 0.

Zero exponent: a0 = 1 if a 6= 0.

Rational Exponents: If m, n ∈ Z, n > 0, am/n =

√ √

a = n a m.
n m

√
n a stands for the nth root of a, the number
which, when raised to the nth power, yields a.
√
In other words, ( n a)n = a.
Rules for Exponents

aman = am+n

am m−n
= a
an

(am)n = amn

(ab)n = anbn
 n
a = an
b bn
Rules for Radicals
√
n √ √
ab = a n b
n

√
n
n a = √a
q
b n
b

m √ √
q
n a = mn a

Important: We cannot simplify sums of radi-

cals.
Order of Operations

Exponentiation

Multiplication and Division

Addition and Subtraction

If we want to change the order, we use paren-

theses.
Scientific Notation

It’s sometimes convenient to write a very large

or a very small number as a number between
1 and 10 times a power of 10. This is called
scientific notation.

Examples:

52379.281 = 5.2379281 · 104

0.00003578 = 3.578 · 10−5

−857.9 = −8.579 · 102

Many calculators display E ± xx rather than

10±xx. For example, instead of displaying 3.578·
10−5, many calculators would show 3.578E −5.
We should still write the number down using
scientific notation, not the way the calculator
displays it.
Polynomials
Definition 4 (Polynomial). A polynomial is a
mathematical expression of the form anxn +
an−1xn−1 + an−2xn−2 + · · · + a1x + a0, where
a0, a1, a2, . . . , an ∈ R and x is a variable.

a0, a1, a2, . . . an are constants and called coeffi-

cients.

a0 is called the constant term.

an is called the leading coefficient.

n is the degree of the polynomial.

The variable doesn’t have to be x.

A polynomial of degree 1 is called linear.

A polynomial of degree 2 is called quadratic.

A polynomial of degree 3 is called cubic.

Polynomials can be added and subtracted in

the obvious way.
Multiplication of Polynomials

Polynomials may be multiplied through the re-

peated use of the Distributive Law, leading to
what’s sometimes called the Generalized Dis-
tributive Law:

To multiply two polynomials together, one pairs

each term of the first factor with each term
of the second, multiplying each pair together,
and then adds all those individual products to-
gether.

Example:

(x2 − 5x + 3)(4x − 7)

The terms of the first factor are x2, −5x and

3, while the terms of the second are 4x and
−7. One may wish to visualize the product as
(x2 + (−5x) + 3)(4x + (−7)).
The pairs of terms may be listed, in an orga-
nized way, in either of the following two ways:

(x2, 4x), (x2, −7), (−5x, 4x), (−5x, −7), (3, 4x),
(3, −7)

or

(x2, 4x), (−5x, 4x), (3, 4x), (x2, −7), (−5x, −7),
(3, −7).

Using the first listing, one gets the following

products:

4x3, −7x2, −20x2, 35x, 12x, −21.

Adding the products together, one gets:

4x3 + (−7x2) + (−20x2) + 35x + 12x + (−21).

Combining like terms, one obtains the product:

4x3 − 27x2 + 47x − 21.

Caution:

Many students have learned the evil acronym

FOIL. FOIL is simply the special case of the
Generalized Distribution Law for the easiest
case of all, a binomial multiplied by a bino-
mial. It is no easier to use than the General-
ized Distributive Law and its use detracts from
the understanding of the much more impor-
tant Generalized Distributive Law. It is advised
that students completely forget about FOIL
and avoid it at all costs.
Division of Polynomials

Division of polynomials may be done essentially

the same way long division of ordinary decimals
is performed. The most common type of divi-
sion is dividing a linear polynomial (something
in the form ax+b) into a higher degree polyno-
mial. Each trial quotient is obtained by divid-
ing the ax term into the term in the dividend
of highest degree.

When dividing a polynomial by a linear poly-

nomial x − c, if we get a remainder then that
remainder is actually the value of the polyno-
mial when x = c. We can see this if we write

p(x) r
x−c = q(x) + x−c

Multiplying both sides by x − c yields

p(x) = q(x)(x − c) + r
Plugging in x = c yields

p(c) = q(c)(c − c) + r = q(c) · 0 + r = r.

Example: If we try dividing x3 + 3x − 7 by x + 5

(which may be thought of as x − (−5)), we
get x2 − 5x + 28 with a remainder of −147,
3
meaning that x +3x−7 = x 2 − 5x + 28 + −147 ,
x+5 x+5
and x3 + 3x − 7 = −147 when x = −5.
Corollary. Given a polynomial p(x), x − c is a
factor if and only if p(c) = 0.

This comes in very handy when solving equa-

tions. It is the basis of solving by factoring.
Example:

Solve x2 + 3x = 10.

x2 + 3x − 10 = 0

(x + 5)(x − 2) = 0

Since x + 5 and x − 2 are factors, −5 and 2 are

solutions of the equation x2 + 3x − 10 = 0 and
thus of the equivalent original equation.

Rationalizing

Suppose
√ one has a fractional expression like
5+ 3
2 . One can rationalize the numerator as
follows:
√ √ √
5+ 3 5+ 3 5−√3 25−9 8√ .
2 = 2 · = √ =
5− 3 2(5− 3) 5− 3
You may remember learning to rationalize a
denominator using this method; in practice, it
turns out that one rarely if ever needs to ratio-
nalize a denominator, but one often needs to
rationalize a numerator.

Historical Note: Before the widespread use of

calculators, rationalizing a denominator was a
useful technique to make some calculations eas-
ier. For example, if one needed a decimal ap-
proximation to √1 , one used to look up a dec-
2 √
imal approximation to 2 in a table, getting
1.4142 (if one was interested in four decimal
places).

Without rationalizing the denominator, one would

1
then have to calculate 1.4142 by hand, which
would be rather tedious. However, if one ra-
tionalizes the denominator, one finds √1 =
√ √ 2
√1 · √2 = 2 , so one could equivalently calcu-
2 2 2
late 1.4142
2 by hand, a much easier calculation.
With the current availability of calculators, such
contortions are now anachronisms.

On the other hand, the skills learned in ratio-

nalizing denominators turn out to be impor-
tant in rationalizing numerators. One example
of this is the following.

Suppose one wants to get the slope of the

√
line tangent to y = x at the point (1, 1).
One can’t find it directly, but one might ex-
pect the slope of a line between (1, 1) and a
√
point (x, x) on the curve, close to the point
(1, 1), to be close to the slope of the tangent.
√
x−1
The slope of that line is x−1 , and when x
is close to 1, one expects this to be close to
the slope of the tangent. Unfortunately, √ it’s
x−1
hard to directly estimate the value of x−1 .
However, √if one rationalizes
√ √ the numerator, one
x−1 x−1 √x+1 x−1
√
observes x−1 = x−1 x+1
= (x−1)( x+1)
=
√1 .
x+1
The last expression is obviously close to 1
2 when
x is close to 1, and we thus expect the slope
of the tangent line to be 12 , as indeed it is.
Rational Expressions
The key rules of algebra relating to rational
expressions are the following.

Cancellation Law: ac
bc = a if c 6= 0.
b

(A common mistake is to think one is using

the Cancellation Law when it does not apply.)

Addition: ad + db = a+b
d .

Subtraction: ad − db = a−b
d .

(If one does not have the same denominator,

one finds a common denominator.)

3 +2 = 3 + 4 = 7.
Example: 10 5 10 10 10

If we cannot find a common denominator eas-

ily, we can always use the product of the de-
nominators. If the product isn’t the least com-
mon denominator, we may be able to reduce
the sum we get to lower terms, cancelling a
common factor of the numerator and denomi-
nator.

Example: 4 3 + 1 = 3 · 6 + 1 · 4 = 18 + 4 = 22 =
6 4 6 6 4 24 24 24
2·11 = 11 .
2·12 12

We can find the least common denominator by

factoring each denominator into a product of
powers of primes and then use each prime to
the highest power it appears.

In the preceding example, the two denomina-

tors are 4 and 6. We may factor them as:

4 = 22

6=2·3

The prime factors that appear are 2 and 3.

Since the highest power 2 appears as is 22 and
the highest power 3 appears as is 3 = 31, the
least common denominator is 22 · 3. We may
then calculate

3 + 1 = 3 · 3 + 1 · 2 = 9 + 1 = 11 , the same
4 6 4 3 6 2 12 12 12
sum we obtained before.

The same basic method may be used even if

the rational expressions involve variables.

x + 5 =
Example: 2x+1 x · 3x + 5 · 2x+1 =
3x 2x+1 3x 3x 2x+1
3x 2 10x+5 2
3x +10x+5
(2x+1)(3x)
+ 3x(2x+1)
= 3x(2x+1)
.

Multiplication ab · dc = ac
bd

Division: ab ÷ dc = ad
bc

Division is really multiplication by the multi-

plicative inverse of the divisor.
Simplifying Complex Rational Ex-
pressions

Sometimes one is confronted with rational ex-

pressions where the numerator and/or the de-
nominator are themselves rational expressions.
There are two equally effective approaches to
dealing with these complex fractional expres-
sions.

Method 1: Write the numerator and denom-

inator so that each is a single term, perhaps
with a numerator and denominator, and then
treat it as a quotient.

Example: 3x = 3x = 3x
5 5 − 2(x+1) 5 2x+2 =
x+1 −2 x+1 x+1
−
x+1 x+1
3x = 3x · x+1 = 3x(x+1) .
3−2x 1 3−2x 3−2x
x+1
Method 2: Multiply the numerator and denom-
inator by the product of each factor in the de-
nominator of either the numerator or the de-
nominator.

3x 3x x+1 3x(x+1)
Example: 5 −2 = ·
5 −2 x+1 = 5−2(x+1)
=
x+1 x+1
3x(x+1)
3−2x .