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[Alan J Rosenthal]

mikey at ontek.com (krill o mine) writes:
>Most high school algebra texts do not consider zero a natural number.
>I would venture that you meant whole numbers.

I have NEVER heard a real mathematician say "whole number".

It seems to me that nearly all mathematicians in mathematics departments start
the naturals with one, but many, possibly most, math-like folks in computer
science departments start them with zero.  It doesn't matter as much in
mathematics.

In any case, high school algebra textbooks are certainly not a definitive
reference for mathematics.