Natural number

The set of natural numbers, denoted $\mathbb{N}$ , is a subset of the set of integers, $\mathbb{Z}$ . Unfortunately, exactly which subset is not entirely clear: in some texts, $\mathbb{N}$ is taken to be the set of positive integers (sometimes called counting numbers in elementary contexts), while in others it is taken to be the set of nonnegative integers (sometimes called whole numbers). In particular, $\mathbb{N}$ usually includes zero in the contexts of set theory and algebra, but usually not in the contexts of number theory. When there is risk of confusion, mathematicians often resort to less ambiguous notations, such as $\mathbb{Z}_{\geq0}$ and $\mathbb{Z}_0^+$ for the set of non-negative integers, and $\mathbb{Z}_{>0}$ and $\mathbb{Z}^+$ for the set of positive integers.

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