What was described here before is entirely inaccurate - the [whole numbers]
? are the nonnegative integers, not the other way around, and are often not distinguished from the natural numbers.
I know this complicates things but is the "unique" in the first sentence not supposed to be "unique up to isomorphism"? --
Jan Hidders
What is here is not wrong, per se. it just is a bit mathematical if you are discussing the way that the word
integer is used in the context of computers. In that context it is slightly different because it has to do with the type of hardware used for math, and the storage of the numbers in computer memory.
integer is commonly used for either the numbers that can be stored in one word,
or it is the number range for the 'natural' address space of the computer.
I thought that Z was commonly used for complex variables, and x was most commonly used for reals. If I'm missing something, just delete this please (I doubt that I'll remember to check back).
- The letter Z is commonly used for the set of all integers, the letter C is commonly used for the set of all complex numbers, and the letter R is commonly used for the set of all real numbers. n or k are commonly used for integer variables, z is commonly used for complex variables, and x is commonly used for real variables. --AxelBoldt
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