number line

noun

: a line of infinite extent whose points correspond to the real numbers according to their distance in a positive or negative direction from a point arbitrarily taken as zero

Examples of number line in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

In the game, which is designed to strengthen the brain circuits that support number sense, the child tries to beat a cartoon opponent to the end of a number line disguised as a colorful racetrack. —Carlin Flora, Discover Magazine, 19 Nov. 2013

This left open the question of how these infinitely many Carmichael numbers are distributed along the number line. —Quanta Magazine, 28 Nov. 2023

Yet this power is constrained by mathematicians’ limited understanding of how primes are distributed along the number line. —Erica Klarreich, Quanta Magazine, 26 Oct. 2023

And now, for the first time, a team of researchers has found direct evidence of a mental number line in a non-human species: chickens. —Ben Thomas, Discover Magazine, 29 Jan. 2015

Is there a set of points on that line, on the number line, which is larger than the natural numbers, larger than the rationals, but smaller than the whole line itself? —Steven Strogatz, Quanta Magazine, 19 Apr. 2023

Like, every subset of this number line, the real number line, is either countable, or there’s a copy of the Cantor set that lives inside of it. —Steven Strogatz, Quanta Magazine, 19 Apr. 2023

Working with your mental timeline or number line, that is, may really be a spatial skill. —Elizabeth Preston, Discover Magazine, 9 Dec. 2011

In the middle of the number line, around 1 and -1, there are more posit representations than floating point. —IEEE Spectrum, 25 Sep. 2022

Word History

First Known Use

1956, in the meaning defined above

Kids Definition

number line

noun

: a line without ends whose points are matched to the real numbers by their distance from a given point labeled zero