tomzhang

Anybody could help? I am taking SAT2 Math tomorrow.

drusba

Depends on how you define natural numbers. When defined as positive integers you begin with one. When defined as non-negative integers, you begin with 0. And both definitions are used. If you just get the general question, you can usually assume they are referring to the first definiton when 0 is not a natural number. Likely, you won't get that question because they usually avoid those which can have two different answers.

tomzhang

Thank you drusba.

mathematicism

Strictly natural numbers are defined as non-negative integers, which means it would include 0. When I look through my SAT books, however, as drusba said, there's barely any question that tests you with that definition. So you'll be fine.

indifferent

No. Natural numbers are positive integers; the smallest natural number is 1. 0 is a whole number, which is the set of naturals and zero.