When my students grow too dependent on their calculators, I ask them to find a number that, when multiplied by itself, gives them 2. Students quickly see that since 1² = 1 and 2² = 4, the answer has ...

Irrational numbers are numbers that cannot be expressed as the ratio of two whole numbers. This is opposed to rational numbers, like 2, 7, one-fifth and -13/9, which can be, and are, expressed as the ...

A rational number can be written exactly in the form \(\frac{a}{b}\), where 𝑎 and 𝑏 are integers, while an irrational number cannot.

When you hear the words "rational" and "irrational," they might bring to mind the relentlessly analytical Spock in "Star Trek." If you're a mathematician, however, you probably think of ratios between ...

Originally defined as the ratio between the circumference of a circle and its diameter, pi — written as the Greek letter π — appears throughout mathematics, including in areas that are completely ...