ABSTRACT
An operator is a set of instructions for carrying out a process. The operator interpretation of rational numbers is very different from part—whole comparisons and quotients. In the operator interpretation, the significant relationship is the comparison between the quantity resulting from an operation and the quantity that is acted upon. The input–output relationship suggests the connection of the operator to functions. Another representation, the function table, situated either vertically or horizontally, may be used to list various input and output values. In the operator interpretation of rational numbers, we think of rational numbers as functions. In this role, rational numbers act as mappings, taking some set or region, and mapping it onto another set or region. More simply put, the operator notion of rational numbers is about shrinking and enlarging, contracting and expanding, enlarging and reducing, or multiplying and dividing.
