Page 29 - Maths Skills - 8

Rational Numbers 27

Activity

Objective: To understand the concept of density of rational numbers.

Materials Required: Chart paper and magnifying glass.

Procedure:

Step 1: Work in pairs. Guess the numbers you think can be adjusted between 0 and 1. Mark number of points
on the number line drawn on the chart paper between 0 and 1 and figure their names.

Step 2: If you find any difficulty, you can use a different strategy such as cutting the interval in half and then
cutting each half in half, labelling the point as they go.

Step 3: Another strategy will involve the use of magnifying glass. Divide the portion between 0 to 10 into

10 equal parts and mark the points as 1 , 2 , ..., 9 . This shows that there are nine rational numbers
10 10 10
between the two rational numbers 0 and 1. With the help of magnifying glass further divide the

distance between any two numbers suppose, 1 and 2 again ten times and so on.
10 20

Step 4: More numbers between 0 and 1 and then 0 and 1 emphasise the fact that there is high density of
10
infinite numbers of rational numbers between any two rational numbers.

Conclusion: Infinite rational numbers can be placed between two rational numbers.