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 $\mathbb{N}$ 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
$\mathbb{N}=\{1,2,3,4,5,\dots \}$	$\mathbb{W}=\{0,1,2,3\dots \}$
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.