Whole numbers are simply numbers that we use in counting in our daily life. 0,1,2,3,4,5....are all whole numbers. All numbers including 0 are Whole numbers. Whole numbers do not contain negative and fractional numbers. Or we can say whole numbers is an integer that is 0 or greater.
There are many ways to represent whole numbers. Let's take an example. Writing 246 as '246' is in standard form. In standard form we split number strings into groups of three separated by commas. For example standard form to write '12420' is '12,420'. Standard form to display number 412430054 is 412,430,054
We can also use base ten blocks or place value blocks to represent whole numbers. Making use of cubes, flats, rods and unit blocks. Each cube represents a thousand, Flat represents hundred, rod represents ten and single unit as one.
Let's represent 246 using these blocks. It can be represented using 2 flats(each flat equals 100), 4 rods(each rod equals 10) and 6 units(each unit equals one)
This method helps to explain the expanded form of whole number.
246 = 2(number of flat blocks) X 100 + 4(number of rod blocks) X 10 + 6 (number of unit blocks)
= 200 + 40 + 6
Expanded form uses addition of place values to represent a number. Whole number can be represented using place value chart.
Let's take another example. Represent 12420 in place value chart.
Using place value chart we can represent number in expanded form as
12420 = 10000 + 2 X 1000 + 4 X 100 + 2 X 10 + 0
Whole numbers can also be represented in number line. It is a way to represent numbers in straight line. Straight line is divided into number of parts with equal distance between them. Number line can help us to perform simple arithmetic operations on a number. Draw a Straight line. Mark a point at the extreme left as '0'. Mark another points at unit distance to the right of zero as 1,2,3....The distance between these marks should be uniform.
For example, number 5 on the number line will be represented as below.
Whole numbers can also be expressed in words, for example 12420 can be represented in words as "Twelve Thousand Four Hundred Twenty"
