Unit 14 · Rational Numbers
Rational Numbers
Mathematics · Grade 7
What You Will Be Able To Do
📏Say exactly what a rational number is, and why the bottom cannot be zero
📍Place any rational number on the number line
⚖️Compare and order them without guessing from the digits
🔁Say why every one of them terminates or recurs as a decimal
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Two thirds, four sixths and 0.666 recurring are not three numbers that happen to be close together. They are one single point on the number line wearing three different costumes.
Presenter notes: Start with the gap left at the end of the last unit. Draw the integer line and ask the class to point at a number between 1 and 2. There is none, and yet half a kilogram of sugar exists and two thirds of a field exists. Ask what they would call the number halfway between 1 and 2, and somebody will say one and a half without hesitating. They already use these numbers daily; today they get a name and a definition.