Look at the first five letters of the word "RATIONAL". They spell "RATIO". Look at the 2nd, 3rd, 5th, 6th, 7th letters of the word "FRACTION". They spell "RATIO", too. A RATIOnal number is a RATIO of two integers, a number that can be written as a fRAcTIOn with numerator and denominator both integers. (The denominator cannot be zero, though). What is 3 over 4? It's 3/4, right? Both its numerator 3 and its denominator are integers. That's why it's a RATIOnal number, the fRAcTIOn or RATIO of two integers. Edwsin