Chapter 1 Real Numbers and their

Properties

1.1 Basic Definitions

WHOLE NUMBERS = 0, 1, 2, 3, 4,…

NATURAL NUMBERS (counting numbers) = 1, 2, 3, 4,…

a numerator (any whole number)

FRACTIONS = written as
b denominato r (any natural number)

REAL NUMBERS = whole numbers, fractions, decimals and mixed numbers

Exercise A. Encircle the correct answer on the right.

1. a whole number 1.5 2

1
0
3
2. NOT a natural 2 100
number
0 50
3. a whole number 3
4 2
1 1 4
between 2 and 5 1
4 3
3 3.35
2
4. a fraction between 4
1
4
3
1 2 2 4
4 and 4 1 2
3 5 4 4
5 3
5. a real number 8
25.12
0
 2

Exercise B. Enumerate the following.

1. first four whole numbers ______ ______ ______ ______

1
2. first four natural numbers ______ ______ ______ ______

3. fractions between 1 and 2 ______ ______ ______ ______

4. decimals between 5 and 6 ______ ______ ______ ______

5. whole numbers between 5 and

50 which are divisible by 5 ______ ______ ______ ______

Exercise C. Magic Rectangles

1. Write the numbers 1-8 in each square so that the sum in each column is 9.

2. Write the numbers 1-15 in each square so that the sum in each column is 24.

1.2 Introduction to Signed Numbers

The Number Line

2
 Negative Numbers Positive Numbers

Trichotomy Property

For any numbers a and b, exactly one of the following

sentences is true.
ab ab ab

Absolute Value

x (read as: the absolute value of x) represents the distance

of x from 0, which is a positive quantity. The absolute value of a
number is never negative.
x, if x is a positivenumber or 0
x  
 x if x is a negative number

Number Absolute Value of the Number

5 5 5

-3 3  3
5 5 5
  
6 6 6

Exercise A. Write <, >, or = in each blank.

1. 10 _____  10 4.  12 _____  12

2. 3 _____  6 5.   8 _____  8

3. 0 _____  35 6.  1 _____  15

3
7. 8  5 _____  6  3 9. 2  15  5 _____  22

8.  8 _____ 45  37 10. 22 _____  8

Exercise B. Answer the following.

1.  10   8  ______

2. 24  8  6  ______

3.  12  14   8  ______

4. ( 4)( 5)   45  ______

5.  ( 6)(5)  (2)( 2)  ______

6. 18  9   32  ______

7. 58  (12)( 4)   1  ______

8.  (8)(2)  (2)(5)   ______

9.   5   12  3   ______

10.  6   3  15  ______

Exercise C. Write I if the number is irrational and R if rational.

1. 4 ______ 2
7. ______
2.  ______ 9
9 5
3. ______ 8. 2
______
4
4. 20  5 ______ 1
9. 3
______
5. 0.03 ______
6. 3 1 ______ 10. 100  4 _______

1.3 Adding Signed Numbers

Exercise A. Add the following.

1. 28  (14)  (11)  _______

2.  12  14  (8)  _______

3. ( 13)  ( 35)  ( 45)  _______

4. 28  (14)  (11)  _______

5. ( 55)  23  (21)  _______

4
6. 0..28  (0.25)  ( 0.03)  _______

7. (34.5)  12.28  (0.02)  _______

8. (125)  84.23  (12.03)  _______

9. (0.85)  ( 94)  ( 12.7)  _______

10. (200)  14.23  (25.12)  _______

3  5  1
11.          _______
8  8  8

 2 1  1
12.   2      1   _______
5 5  5


3  2  1
13.          _______
4  5  2

 1 1  5
14.   3   2    1   _______
4 3  6


2  1
15. (6)       _______
3  6

Exercise B. Solve the following problems. Show all necessary solutions.

Box and label your final answer.

1. The temperature in a certain area is  9C during the day. At night it

drops 4 . What is the temperature at night?

2. In a quiz show you get a point for each correct answer and lose a point
for each incorrect answer. Rica gets 23 correct answers and 17 wrong
answers. What is her score?

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 3. Camille went on four-month diet. She lost 1.2kg in the first month,
1.1kg in the second, 2.1kg in the third, and 0.5kg in the fourth. How
much weight did she lose altogether?

4. An airplane 1,245m above sea level drops an object into the ocean. It
settles at a point 465m below sea level. How far did the object fall?

5. Michael took a joy ride in an elevator of ABC building. He took the

elevator at the 8th floor, went up to the 53rd floor, went down 17 floors,
and then went down again 15 floors. He then got out of the elevator to
see a Science exhibit. In what floor is the Science exhibit located?

1.4 Subtracting Signed Numbers

Exercise A. Subtract the following.

1. 15  23  11  ______

2. 8  (15)  25  ______

3. ( 24)  17  32  ______

4. ( 21)  (11)  43  ______

5. 16  ( 8)  ( 19)  ______

6. 19.23  15.12  40.2  ______

7. 40  (21)  47  ______

8. ( 200)  ( 15)  129  ______

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9. 46  ( 124)  ( 14)  ______

10. (4)  ( 145)  ( 124)  ______

5 8 1
11.  
12 12 12
 ______

1 1 7
12. 5
6
 2   ______
6 6

5  1  1
13.    2       ______
8  5  2

 5  2  1
14.   9         2   ______
6  3  2


3  3
15. ( 23)    2   ______
5  7

Exercise B. Solve for M in each equation. Write your answer in each

blank.
1. 54  M  12 _____
2. (8)  M  8 _____
3. ( 56)  M  15 _____
4. 14  M  36 _____
5. (23)  M  6 _____
6. M  20  15 _____
7. M  (16)  2 _____
8. M  (89)  117 _____
9. M  (15)  15 _____
10. M  (12)  24 _____

Exercise C. Solve the following problems. Show all necessary solutions.

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1. Plato, the Classical Greek philosopher, was born in 428 B.C. and died on 348
B.C. How old was he when he died?

2. You are in debt of P325.50. How much money will you need to make your
total assets P850.00?

3. An airplane is 5,439m above sea level. At the same time, a submarine is

directly under the plane at 1,235m below sea level. How far above the
submarine is the plane?

1.5 Multiplying and Dividing Signed Numbers

Exercise A. Solve for N for each equation. Write your answer in each
blank.

1.   25  N  100 ______

2.   4    3  N  60 ______
3. N   6   3   126 ______
4.   9  N   1   45 ______
5. N  28   28 ______
6.   1 .2  N  14 .4 ______
7.  N   0 .5   12 . 5 ______
8.  2 .5    1 .2  N  2 .7 ______
9. N  20 .3  1 . 5   182 . 7 ______
10. 125 .5    10  N  12 . 55 ______

Exercise B. Answer the following.

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1. 13    8    2   ________  1  2  3
7.   3  1    1   ________
 2  7  4
2. 13 .2  10    10   ________
 1 2
8. 1    2    24   ________
3.   12    5    6   ________  8  3

4.   8 .5    4    5   ________  3
9.   56    8    2   ________
5.  4    7   22   ________
 32   15   5 
 1   10   9  10.     1   ________
6.       ________
 5   27   5 
 9   16   9 

Exercise C. Solve for S for each equation. Write your answer in each
blank.

1. 87  S  29 _______ 6. S    4   21 _______

2.   26 .5   S  5 .3 _______ 7. S  6  124 _______
3.   14 . 4   S  72 _______ 8. S    12 . 3   25 _______
5 2  3
4. 49
S 
35
_______ 9. S      20 _______
 5
 1 2  2 3
5.  2   S  1
 4 3
_______ 10. S  1   _______
 7  4

Exercise D. Answer the following.

1. 140    4     2   ________ 2  4  9

6.         _________
 3   15   2 

2.   1000     2     1  _________  3   12  5

7.   15     15    3   ______

 1 3
3.   73 . 2   0 . 3    0 .2   ________ 8.          24   _________
 2 8

9. 0 . 255    5    0 . 1  _________
4.   25     5     1  _________
10.   372     3     0 .2   _________
5. 1584  2    6   _________
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 Exercise E. Perform the indicated operations. Write your answer in the
box.

1. 23    7 
 4.   35    4   8  
2  3    8    10 
  28    4  12    1 15  
2.   5   7  5.
7   2

3.   32  4

1. 6  Powers
 5    7and Roots of Signed Numbers

exponent

3
2 8
Third power of 2
base

EVEN POWER OF THE BASE – a base that has an exponent that

is exactly divisible by 2.
Ex. 32 , 56 , (2) 8

An even power of a negative number is positive.

Ex. (2) 2  4

ODD POWER OF THE BASE – a base that has an exponent that

is not exactly divisible by 2.
Ex. 33 , 57 , (2) 9

An odd power of a negative number is negative.

Ex. (2) 3  8
Power of Zero 10
If a is any positive real number, then 0a  0
 Exercise A. Find each indicated root.

1.  36 1.21
8. 
3.6
2. 225
9. 14.4
4
3.
25 1
10. 
12.1
36
4. 
25 11. 100  36
1 12.   36     4 
5. 
121
13. 196  3600
6.  1.6
14. 1.21  144
7.  12.1
15.   400  4

Exercise B. Find each indicated root.

1.  3 8 6. 3 120  5  3 1
2. 3
64 7.  8  
3
64 
3. 3 729  3 27 8. 169  3 1000
4.  4  3 8 9.  5 32  3 27
5. 4

16   4  10. 3
343  25

Exercise C. Solve the following problems. Show all necessary solutions.

Box and label your final answer.

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 1. The area of a square lot is 361m 2 . Find the length of each side.

2. The volume of a box is 3375cm 3 . Find the length of each side.

1.7 Properties of Real Numbers

The Closure Property

A set S is closed under the operation ♦ if whenever a and b are in S,
a ♦ b is in S.

Commutative Properties of Addition and Multiplication

If a and b represent real numbers, then
a b b a
a b b a

Associative Properties of Addition and Multiplication

If a, b, and c represent real numbers, then
 a  b   c  a  b  c 
 a  b   c  a  b  c 

Additive and Multiplicative Identity Property

Let a represent a real number.
a 0 0 a a (Zero is the identity element for addition)
a  1  1 a  a (One is the identity element for multiplica tion)

Inverse Properties for Addition and Multiplication

Let a represent a real number.
a   a    a   a  0
1 1
a    a  1, (a  0)
a a

Distributive Property of Multiplication Over Addition (DPMA)

For any real numbers a, b, and c,
a  b  c    a  b    a  c 
and b  c   a  b  a    c  a 

Distributive Property of Multiplication Over Subtraction (DPMS)

a  b  c    a  b    a  c 
and b  c   a  b  a    c  a  12
Properties of Equality
Reflexive Property: a a
Symmetric Property: If a  b , then b  a .
Transitive Property: If a  b and b  c , then a  c .
Substitution Property: If a  b , then a may be replaced by b.
Exercise A. Tell whether the statement is true or false.

_______1. a  b   8  a  8  b 
______2. 8  a  2   8a  82
_______3.  2  y  7  2  7y
_______4. 14a  2b  2  7a  b 
_______5. 5  a  b   5a  5b
a 0
_______6. 
0 a
_______7. ab  0  ab
_______8. a  b   8  a  8  b 
_______9. a a   0
_______10. 0  5  5

Exercise B. Name the property illustrated in going from one step to the
next.

1. 2a  5b  3a  0  2a   2a  5b  3a  0 _______________
 2a  5b  3a _______________
 (2a  3a)  5b _______________
 5a  5b _______________

2. 3  a  4   3  (3a  12) - 3 _______________

 3a  9 _______________

3. 3  b  c   4  2b  2c   (3b  3c)  4(2b - 2c) _______________

  3b  3c   (8b - 8c) _______________
 (3b  8b)  (3c  8c) _______________
 11b   - 5c  _______________

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4. 2  - 3b  2   6  b  4    - 6b   4  6b  24 _______________
  - 6b   6b  4  24 _______________
 0  4  24 _______________
 28 _______________

14