Is seven an irrational number? No for it is RATIOnal, because it is the RATIO of integers 7 to 1. Any number is RATIOnal if it can be written "an integer over an integer" These are rational numbers:, , , , , 7.85674 is a rational number because we can begin by placing it over 1, like this and then we can moving the decimal on top and bottom five places and we have and that is "an integer over an integer". An example of an irrational number is 2.67667666766667666667666666766666667666666667··· where after each 7 is one more 6 than was after the last 7 and this goes on forever. It does not repeat the same block of digits forever, as each new block contains one more 6 than the last. However a decimal such as 2.66776677667766776677667766776677··· is a RATONAL number because it repeats the block of digits 6677 forever. Any termination decimal or non-terminating decimal WHICH REPEATS THE SAME block of digits forever can be shown to represent a rational number. Incidentally, the never ending decimal above, 2.66776677667766776677667766776677··· is RATIONAL because it is equivalent to the fraction: which is "an integer over an integer". Don't believe it? Watch this long division: 2.667766 909)2425.000000 1818 607 0 545 4 61 60 54 54 7 060 6 363 6970 6363 6070 5454 6160 5454 706 Look at the division and you can see that you will keep getting the same block of digits 6677 forever. Rational numbers are numbers that can be written as COMMON FRACTIONS, either proper of improper. Irrational number are those which can't be so written. is an irrational number. It starts off: 1.414213562373095048801688724209698078569671875376948073176679737990732478462107038850387534327641572735013846230912297024924836055850737212644121497099935831432226659275055927557999505011527820605714701095599716059702745345968620147285... It never stops and it never repeats the same set of digits over and over forever. Check this website and see it carried to a million decimal places. http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/htmltest/gifcity/sqrt2.1mil is another irrational number. It starts off: 3.141592653589793238462643383279502884197169399375105820974944592307816406286208998628034825342117067982148086513282306647093844609550582231725359408128481117450284102701938521105559644622948954930381964428810975665933446128475648233786783165271201909145648566923460348610454326648213393607260249141273724587006606315588174881520920962829254091715364367892590360011330530548820466521384146951941511609... It never stops and it never repeats the same set of digits over and over forever. Check out this website: http://pi.ytmnd.com/ and hear a bunch of the digits of pi sung. Edwin