Natural (Counting) Numbers: Numbers used for counting (1, 2, 3…)
Whole Numbers: Numbers used for counting AND 0 (0, 1, 2, 3…)
Comparing Whole Numbers
> greater than
< less than
= equal to
> greater than OR equal to
< less than OR equal to
To compare whole numbers, first write the numbers on top of one another lining up the numbers in the ones column. If each number has the same number of digits, begin to compare the numbers in each column working from left to right.
Example:
3,482
3,291
Each number has the same number of digits (4).
The number in the thousands place is the same.
The numbers in the hundreds place are different (4 & 2).
Because 4 is greater than 2, 3,482 > 3,291