The Number Line and other stories

The Number Line

Sometimes mathematics can teach you a  thing or two about real life, if you just extrapolate things in the right context in to the real world. Extrapolation would actually mean stretching your estimation beyond the original observation and by that means extrapolation in itself is a very mathematical word that has extrapolated itself in to the lexicon of real world .
   The other day, I was helping my daughter with understanding some concepts of a specific chapter in her mathematics book, dealing with the real numbers . As it turns out, every possible number, that is there in this world, is a real number and each real number has got to have it's own unique position on a number line. Now ,think of the number line. I mean it's kind of infinite mathematical universe, as there is not a number that you can not place on the number line. You name it and  you can place it. Now in an ascending order of complexity , the number are called as natural numbers, whole numbers, integers, rational in such a manner that each category encompasses within itself the earlier category plus some extra numbers ,all of which are then together called as rational numbers. And there is a fourth category which is known as irrational numbers, which follows none of the rules of the rational numbers. So ,for the sake of simplicity ,basically there are two broad categories of numbers . The rational and the irrational numbers. Ain't human beings the same too , by extrapolation of this logic of infinite number line in to the infinite sea of humanity.
   So people can be of two types. The rational ones and the irrational ones. And, just as rational numbers are easy to trace and place on a number line, so are rational people. Whether in the form of a natural number, a whole number or an integer( positive or negative), they are not very incomprehensible. They can be understood and dealt with,as they always know their place in the scheme of things.
   The real challenge comes in dealing with the irrational ones, the inscrutable ones . Both people and numbers. They don't just fit in to any pattern. As far as the irrational numbers go, no matter how much you try to simplify them, they would just go on and on , with no definite pattern or sequence. As they are called as non- terminating and non- repeating; in other words a never ending numbers of numbers . Some times however with an overhead root sign, such as square root or cube root sign, one can give them some semblance in appearance or for that matter cut them short in size, in place of giving them a bloated elongated never ending appearance .Or you may, just put them in between two real numbers to show their place in the scheme of things.
  And isn't that what you should do with irrational beings too. The world is full of them. They are everywhere .Now always remember the sum, difference ,multiplication or division of rational with an irrational number almost always turns out to an irrational one . And that is why rational beings can seldom coexist with irrational beings .