How can you use a number to explain what an integer and rational number are?

The terms even and odd only apply to integers; 2.5 is neither even nor odd. Zero, on the other hand, is even since it is 2 times some integer: it's 2 times 0. To check whether a number is odd, see whether it's one more than some even number: 7 is odd since it's one more than 6, which is even.

Another way to say this is that zero is even since it can be written in the form 2*n, where n is an integer. Odd numbers can be written in the form 2*n + 1. Again, this lets us talk about whether negative numbers are even and odd: - 9 is odd since it's one more than - 10, which is even.