Introduction

As we know, we use 1, 2, 3, 4,... when we begin to count. They come naturally when we start counting. Hence, mathematicians call the counting numbers as Natural numbers.

The successor of 16 is 16 + 1 = , that of 19 is 19 + 1 = and so on.

The number comes before 17.

We say that the predecessor of 17 is 17 – 1 = 16, the predecessor of 20 is 20 – 1 = , and so on

The number 3 has a predecessor and a successor. What about 2? The successor is and the predecessor is .

Does 1 have both a successor and a predecessor? YesNo

Instructions

We can count the number of children in our school. Similarly, we can also count the number of people in a city, in India and the whole world.

Can we count the number of stars in the sky ? NoYes.

What about the number of hair strands on our head? UncountableCountable

If we are able to do so, there would be a number for them too. We can then add one more to such a number and get a larger number. In that case we can even write the number of hair on two heads taken together.

It is now perhaps obvious that there is no largest number.

Apart from these questions shared above, there are many others that can come to our mind when we work with natural numbers. You can think of a few such questions. You may not clearly know the answers to many of them !