real number
nounUK /ˌrɪəl ˈnʌmbə/
US /ˌriːəl ˈnʌmbər/
A real number is any number you can find on a number line, like 3, -2, or 0.5.
Zero, five, and one half are all real numbers.
RELATED WORDS
OTHER MEANINGS
2. In math, a number that is not imaginary, so it can be positive, negative, or zero.
The square root of two is a real number, but the square root of minus one is not.
3. A value used in measuring things in everyday life, such as length, weight, or money.
We used real numbers to measure how tall the plant grew.
4. A number that can be written as a decimal, even if the decimal never ends.
Pi is a real number even though its digits go on forever.