What does the term rational mean in rational number and rational expression?
In the context of mathematics, the term "rational" refers to a number or expression that can be expressed as the quotient or ratio of two integers.
In the case of rational numbers, these are real numbers that can be written as a fraction, where the numerator and denominator are both integers and the denominator is not zero. For example, -3, 1/2, and 0.75 are all rational numbers because they can be expressed as fractions (-3/1, 1/2, and 3/4).
A rational expression, on the other hand, is an algebraic expression (containing variables, constants, and operations) that can be expressed as the ratio of two polynomial expressions. This means that the numerator and denominator of a rational expression are both polynomials. For example, (x^2 + 3x + 2)/(x + 1) is a rational expression because both the numerator and denominator are polynomials.