Natural numbers, also known as counting numbers, are the base numbers for counting things and objects. A natural number contains no fraction, decimal part, or negative sign. A set of natural numbers is represented by the letter N and contains the numbers from 1 to infinity.

The dots indicate that the numbers continue to increase by one unit at a time indefinitely. This means that this set contains infinitely many numbers. Here are some things to consider when thinking about natural and whole numbers.

Natural Numbers	Whole Numbers
N={1,2,3,4,5, ... }	W={0,1,2,3... }
The smallest natural number is 1.	The smallest whole number is 0.
All natural numbers are whole numbers	Not all whole numbers are natural numbers.
Example: Marky's favorite toys are three car figurines, two puzzles, and a guitar.	Example: The school principal has one notebook and ten pencils, yet he has zero erasers.