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The_camperdave t1_j6c57zf wrote

Reply to comment by Ellykos in ELI5: Why do imaginary numbers even need to exist? by Tharsis101

> while N are the natural numbers (0 to +inf)

I was taught that Natural numbers were 1,2,3,..., and Whole numbers were 0,1,2,3...

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Ellykos t1_j6c6rvv wrote

Looking online I can see that W is used for the Whole numbers, but I never saw the W symbol used in all my math classes.

Personally I learned that 0 was a natural number and looking online it is said that 0 was not included in the original definition, but was later added. To avoid mistake, N* is often used to indicate that it contains 0. At the end, it's not really that important but it's good to know !

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