Grade 8

Rational Number

 Natural numbers are a collection of all positive numbers starting from 1.

 Whole numbers are a collection of all natural numbers including 0.
p
 Rational numbers are the numbers that can be written in form, where p and q are
q
integers and q 0
 Closure property
1. Whole numbers are closed under addition and multiplication. However, they
are not closed under subtraction and division.
2. Integers are also closed under addition and multiplication. However, they are
not closed under subtraction and division.
3. Rational numbers:
i. Rational numbers are closed under addition.
2 3 19
is a rational number.
5 2 10
ii. Rational numbers are closed under subtraction.
1 3 11
is rational number.
5 4 20
iii. Rational numbers are closed under multiplication.
2 3 2
is a rational number.
3 5 5
iv. Rational numbers are not closed under division. For example, 2 0 is not
defined.

 Commutativity
1. Whole numbers are commutative under addition and multiplication. However,
they are not commutative under subtraction and division.
2. Integers are commutative under addition and multiplication. However, they are
not commutative under subtraction and division.
3. Rational numbers:
i. Rational numbers are commutative under addition.
2 3 3 2 5
3 2 2 3 6
ii. Rational numbers are not commutative under multiplication.
3 5 7 5 3 7
and
4 2 4 2 4 4
3 5 5 3
4 2 2 4
iii. Rational numbers are commutative under multiplication.
3 2 2 3 1
4 6 6 4 4
iv. Rational numbers are not commutative under division.
 2 5 5 2

 Associativity
1. Whole numbers are associative under addition and multiplication. However,
they are associative not under subtraction and division.
2. Integers are associative under addition and multiplication. However, they are
not associative under subtraction and division.
3. Rational numbers:
i. Rational numbers are associative under addition.
2 1 2 1
1 1 2
3 3 3 3
ii. Rational numbers are not associative under subtraction.
2 1 2
1
3 3 3
2 1 4
1
3 3 3
2 1 2 1
1 1
3 3 3 3
iii. Rational numbers are associative under multiplication.
2 1 2 1 2
1 1
3 3 3 3 9
iv. Rational numbers are not associative under division.
2 1 3 28
7 14 7 3
2 1 3 12
7 14 7 7
2 1 3 2 1 3
7 14 7 7 14 7
 0 is the additive identity of whole numbers, integers, and rational numbers.
0 + a = a + 0 = a, where a is a rational number
 1 is the multiplicative identity of whole numbers, integers, and rational numbers.
a×1=1×a=a
 Additive inverse of a number is the number, which when added to a number, gives 0. It
is also called the negative of a number.
a a a a 0
2 2
Additive inverse of is .
5 5
 Reciprocal or multiplicative inverse of a number is the number, which when multiplied
1
by the number, gives 1. Therefore, the reciprocal of a is .
a
 1
a 1
a
2 3
Reciprocal of is .
3 2
 Rational numbers are distributive over addition and subtraction.
For rational numbers a, b, and c,
a b c ab ac
a b c ab ac
 Rational numbers can be represented on the number line in the same way as the
fractions are represented.
 In between two rational numbers, there exists infinite rational numbers. They can be
found by using the method of mean.
1 1
Example: Find three rational numbers between and .
6 3
1 1 1 1 1
Solution: Mean of
and = 2
6 3 6 3 4
1 1 1 1 7
Mean of and = 2
2 3 4 3 24
1 1 1 1 5
Mean of and = 2
6 2 6 4 24
1 1 1 7 5
Thus, three rational numbers between and are , , and .
6 3 4 24 24

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