A rational number is any number that can be written as a common fraction.
As a decimal fraction, it either terminates (as 6, -3 1/2, and 7/20 do) or it infinitely repeats (as 1/3, 5 3/7, and -4 5/9 do).
Technically, a rational number is any number that can be put into the form a/b, where a and b are both integers and b ≠ 0.
The integers form this set: { ..., -4, -3, -2, -1, 0, 1, 2, 3, 4, ...}.