Question

State true or false:
Every natural number is a whole number.
(a) True
(b) False

Answer 1

Hint: We will look at the definition of natural numbers and whole numbers. We will see the different sets of numbers. We will check the difference between natural numbers and whole numbers. Then we will verify the given statement. After that, if the given statement is correct, we will say that it is true. Otherwise, we will say that the given statement is false.

Complete answer:
We define the set of natural numbers as the set of positive integers or counting numbers. It is denoted by $\mathbb{N}$. It contains the positive integers, that is, $\mathbb{N}=\left\{ 1,2,3,\ldots \right\}$.
We define the whole numbers as the set of all integers that are not negative. This means that the set is as follows, $\left\{ 0,1,2,3,\ldots \right\}$. The set of whole numbers is generally denoted by the letter W.
There are other sets of numbers such as the set of all integers, set of all rational numbers, set of all real numbers, etc.
The difference between the set of natural numbers and the set of whole numbers is the following: the set of whole numbers contains the number 0 whereas, the set of natural numbers does not contain the number 0. So, basically, we can say that the set of whole numbers is the union of the set of natural numbers and the singleton set $\left\{ 0 \right\}$.
This implies that all natural numbers are whole numbers.

Therefore, the given statement is correct. Hence, the correct option is (a).

Note:
We should be aware of the different sets of numbers. We can use the definitions of the sets to find out if one set is a subset of another set or not. It is important to verify the given statement in true or false questions. This will allow us to eliminate any ambiguity and choose the correct option. The term 'natural' in natural numbers arises from the fact that these numbers were incorporated in human life for counting things in a very natural way.