Question

State whether the following statement is True or False.
‘Zero is the smallest Natural Number’.
A. True
B. False

Answer 1

Hint: In this question, we will see some basic definitions of the number system. We will see the definition of natural number, whole number and integers with examples. And then decide whether the given statement is true or false.

Complete step-by-step answer:
We have to check whether the given statement i.e. Zero is the smallest natural number or not.
So first of all we will look at some basic definitions.
1. Natural numbers
The numbers starting form 1 and continued up to infinity are called natural numbers. These are also known as counting numbers.
For example- 1, 2, 3, 40 etc.
2. Whole number
Natural numbers including zero are called whole numbers.
For example- 0, 1, 2 ...... up to infinity.
3. Integers
All the positive and negative numbers including zero are called integers.
For example- -4, -3, -2, 0, 1, 5 etc. It extends from negative infinity to positive infinity.
Integers are further classified into three parts:
(i) Positive integer- it contains numbers from 1 to infinity.
(ii) Negative integer- - it contains all the negative numbers.
(iii) Zero integer- it contains zero only.
And hence it is clear from the definition of whole number and natural number that zero is a part of whole number whereas natural number does not consist of zero.
So the given statement is false.

Note: In this type of question we should know the definition that we defined above. You should know that integer positive integers are called natural numbers. Zero is neither a positive number nor a negative number, it is a non positive number. 1 is the smallest natural number.