Integer Integer An integer (from the Latin "integer" meaning "whole") is a number that can be written without a fractional component. For example, 21, 4, 0, and −2048 are integers, while 9.75, , and are not. The set of integers consists of zero (), the positive natural numbers (, , , …), also called "whole numbers" or "counting numbers", and their additive inverses (the negative integers, i.e., −1, −2, −3, …). The set of integers is often denoted by a boldface Z ("") or blackboard bold formula_1 (Unicode U+2124 ℤ) standing for the German word "Zahlen" (, "numbers"). The integers form
Comparison sort counting sort is an example algorithm that runs in linear time. Other integer sorting algorithms, such as radix sort, are not asymptotically faster than comparison sorting, but can be faster in practice. The problem of sorting pairs of numbers by their sum is not subject to the bound either (the square resulting from the pairing up); the best known algorithm still takes time, but only comparisons. The number of comparisons that a comparison sort algorithm requires increases in proportion to formula_1, where formula_2 is the number of elements to sort. This bound is asymptotically tight. Given a list of distinct