Jul 24, 2008

SAT Prep | Overview

Most of the numbers used in algebra belong to a set called the real numbers or reals. This set can be represented graphically by the real number line.

Given the number line that follows, we arbitrarily fix a point and label it with the number 0. In a similar manner, we can label any point on the line with one of the real numbers, depending on its position relative to 0. Numbers to the right of 0 are positive, whereas those to the left are negative. Value increases from left to right, so that if a is to the right of b, it is said to be greater than b.

If we now divide the number...