We use numbers to count things.
Some numbers go on and on. They can go to the left. They use special patterns. This helps us solve puzzles. It is a new way to see math. Can you find patterns too?
We use numbers to count things.
Most numbers go to the right. Some numbers go on and on to the left. These use special patterns.
A man named Kurt Hensel found them. He used a prime number to make them. These numbers help us solve math puzzles. They are a new way to see math. You can even divide them. It is a very neat way to work with numbers.
Most numbers we use go to the right of a dot. We call these decimal places. But math has a different way to look at numbers. We can use a prime number to build a new system. These are called p-adic numbers.
In this system, the digits go to the left instead of the right. You pick a prime number, like three. Then you write numbers using only that prime. For example, a 3-adic number uses digits like zero, one, or two. These digits can go on forever to the left.
A man named Kurt Hensel found these in 1897. He wanted a better way to solve math puzzles. Before him, people used remainders to study numbers. This often lost some important information. p-adic numbers help keep that information. They even let you do division easily. This makes them a special kind of math tool called a field. They are a new way to see how rational numbers work. They help us see patterns that other numbers might miss.
Math often uses decimal places to show parts of a whole. We write these digits to the right of a dot. But there is a different way to look at numbers. These are called p-adic numbers. You start by picking a prime number, which we call p.
In this system, the digits go to the left instead of the right. A p-adic integer uses digits based on that prime number. These digits can extend infinitely to the left. This creates a very different way to see numbers.
Working with these numbers is like using a special base. For example, a 3-adic number uses only the digits zero, one, and two.
You can add or multiply them just like normal numbers. When you add, you carry digits from right to left. Some rational numbers are also p-adic integers. For instance, the fraction one over three is a 3-adic integer. However, some fractions like one over two are not 3-adic integers. This is because their denominators are not divisible by three.
Kurt Hensel first described these numbers in 1897. He wanted to solve hard math puzzles called Diophantine equations. Before him, people used remainders to study numbers. This is called modular arithmetic. Using remainders can sometimes lose important information. Hensel found a way to use a prime number to keep that information. He used a method to lift solutions from one level to the next. This creates an infinite sequence of residues. This sequence is what we call a p-adic number.
There are a few ways to define these numbers. One way is as a formal series. You write them as a sum of digits multiplied by powers of p.
Another way is to look at them as sequences of residues. Each step in the sequence uses a larger power of the prime. This allows you to take the modulo for all levels at once. The p-adic numbers form what mathematicians call a field. This means you can perform addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division. This is a big deal because division is not always possible in other systems.
These numbers help us see the rational numbers in a new light. Every rational number can be written as a unique p-adic series. This makes the p-adic numbers an extension of the rational numbers. They are also different from the real numbers we use every day. While real numbers use a usual absolute value, p-adic numbers use a p-adic absolute value. This value depends on the highest power of p that divides a number. This special way of measuring helps mathematicians find deep patterns. It turns the study of numbers into a much richer journey.
Mathematics often looks at how numbers grow larger or smaller using a standard ruler. We use the absolute value to measure distance on a number line. However, mathematicians have discovered other ways to measure how "close" numbers are to each other. One of the most important ways is through p-adic numbers. These numbers are built using a specific prime number, which we call p.
While real numbers extend infinitely to the right of a decimal point, p-adic numbers extend infinitely to the left. This creates a unique mathematical landscape that helps us solve complex problems in number theory.
To understand how they work, imagine writing numbers in a specific base. In our everyday base-10 system, we use digits from zero to nine. In a p-adic system, we only use digits from zero up to p minus one. A p-adic integer is written as a formal power series. It looks like a sum where each digit is multiplied by a power of p.
Because the digits extend to the left, we can perform addition and multiplication similarly to long multiplication. When adding, you carry digits from right to left. If a number has digits that extend to the right of the starting point, it is called a p-adic number rather than just an integer.
There are two main types of these mathematical objects. The first are p-adic integers, often written as $\mathbb{Z}_p$. These are numbers where the digits only extend to the left. The second are p-adic numbers, written as $\mathbb{Q}_p$. These are a broader group that includes p-adic integers plus numbers with a finite number of digits to the right of the decimal. You can think of p-adic numbers as being formed by taking a p-adic integer and dividing it by a power of p. This structure allows the p-adic numbers to form a mathematical field. In a field, you can always perform addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division.
History shows that these ideas grew from a need to solve equations. In 1897, a mathematician named Kurt Hensel first described p-adic numbers. Before his discovery, mathematicians used modular arithmetic to study numbers. Modular arithmetic looks at the remainders left over after division. While helpful, modular arithmetic can lose information because it is not injective. This means different numbers might end up with the same remainder. Hensel developed a way to "lift" solutions from a small prime modulus to higher prime powers. This process creates an infinite sequence of residues that defines a p-adic number.
We can also define these numbers using a special way of measuring, called the p-adic absolute value. In standard math, a larger power of ten makes a number much larger. In p-adic math, the rules change based on the prime p. The p-adic valuation of a number is the exponent of the highest power of p that divides it. The p-adic absolute value is then calculated using this exponent. Specifically, if the valuation of a number $x$ is $v_p(x)$, the absolute value is $p^{-v_p(x)}$. This means that numbers divisible by very large powers of p are actually considered very "small" in this system.
One surprising fact is how p-adic numbers relate to the rational numbers we use every day. Every single rational number can be uniquely expressed as a p-adic series. This allows mathematicians to view rational numbers as a special subset of p-adic numbers. For example, in a 3-adic system, the fraction one over three is a 3-adic integer. However, a fraction like one over two is not a 3-adic integer because its denominator is not divisible by three. This distinction helps researchers categorize numbers based on their divisibility properties.
Today, p-adic numbers are essential tools in modern mathematics. They serve as a completion of the rational numbers, much like real numbers are a completion of the rationals. By using the p-adic absolute value instead of the usual one, we create a different kind of space. This space allows us to study Diophantine equations, which are equations where we look for integer solutions. By looking at these equations through a p-adic lens, we can find patterns that are invisible in the standard real number system. They connect simple arithmetic to the deep, complex structures of higher algebra.
Where will your curiosity go next?
🖼️ Images & Media (2)
More to explore
✨ What else?
Related topics you might enjoy
🔬 Go deeper
More advanced topics to explore
🪜 Step back
Simpler topics to build understanding
What is Nepedia?
A free, ad-free encyclopedia for children. Every article is written at five reading levels, so the same page works for a five-year-old and a fifteen-year-old — use the level switcher above to see this one change. No account needed to read.