Question

Allison's math teacher asked her to write an irrational and rational number. She wrote the following numbers √46 Rational and 5.25 Irrational. Explain if you agree with Allison's identification of rational and irrational numbers.

If you disagree, provide an example of an irrational and rational number.

Answer 1

I disagree with Allison. The reason for this is because the square root of 46 is not a perfect square, making the equation irrational. 5.25 is rational because it terminates.

An example of a rational number would be √81. This would be rational because this is a perfect square; 81 / 9 = 9, so √81 = 9.

An example of an irrational number would be “7.2534910552…”. This number would be irrational because there’s no repeating pattern within the decimal and it doesn’t terminate.