• petrol_sniff_king@lemmy.blahaj.zone
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          7 months ago

          An English dictionary is not really going to tell you what mathematicians are doing. Like, its goal is to describe what the word “integer” means (in various contexts), it won’t tell you what the “integer series” is.

          https://math.stackexchange.com/questions/138633/what-are-the-whole-numbers

          The gist I see is that it’s kind of ambiguous whether the whole number series includes negatives or not, and in higher math you won’t see the term without a strict definition. It’s much more likely you’d see “non-negative integers” or the like.

          • Monstera@lemmy.ml
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            7 months ago

            wdym, you know what integers are called in latin languages? “inteiros” (pt), literally “whole”. everyone that does higher math (me included) uses it and understands it for what it is: numbers that are not fractions/irationals.

            Just cause there exists an English hegemony and your language is ill defined and confused with your multiple words for a single concept, that doesn’t mean you get to muddy the waters, rename something in maths, and make a mountain out of a mole hill. Integers include negatives and zero, saying whole numbers and integers is the same, no room for debate

            now excuse me while i go touch some grass

    • anton@lemmy.blahaj.zone
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      7 months ago

      I would say that whole numbers and integers are different names for the same thing.

      In german the integers are literally called ganze Zahlen meaning whole numbers.