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So 16 is un ar bymtheg (one on 15), 36 is un ar bymtheg ar hugain (one on 15 on 20), and so on. Once you advance by 15 (pymtheg) you add units to that number. Though modern Welsh uses base-10 numbers, the traditional system was base-20, with the added twist of using 15 as a reference point. Traditional Welsh, base-20 with a pivot at 15 So, combining base-20 and subtraction means 77 is m?tadil?g?rin, or (20x4)-3. Yoruba, a Niger-Congo language spoken in West Africa, also has a base-20 system, but it is complicated by the fact that for each 10 numbers you advance, you add for the digits 1-4 and subtract for the digits 5-9. Twenty-one is jun scha'vinik (first digit of the second man), 42 is chib yoxvinik (second digit of the third man), and 70 is lajuneb chanvinik (tenth digit of the fourth man).
#Different types of numbers in different languages full#
Why might a base-20 system come about? Fingers and toes! For numbers above 20, you refer to the digits of the next full man (vinik). Tzotzil, a Mayan language spoken in Mexico, has a vigesimal, or base-20, counting system. 'One' is tip^na (thumb), 6 is dopa (wrist), 12 is nata (ear), 16 is tan-nata (ear on the other side), all the way to 27, or tan-h^th^ta (pinky on the other side). The words for numbers are the words for the 27 body parts they use for counting, starting at the thumb of one hand, going up to the nose, then down the other side of the body to the pinky of the other hand, as shown in the drawing. The Oksapmin people of New Guinea have a base-27 counting system. Does that blow your mind a little too much? Well there are all sorts of weird things that languages can do with number words. But a dozenal system would require us to change our number words so that, for example, what we know as 20 would mean 24 (2x12), 30 would mean 36, and so on. 1, 2, 5 and 10), such a system would neaten up our mathematical lives in various ways. Because 12 is cleanly divisible by more factors than 10 is (1, 2, 3, 4, 6 and 12 vs. The Dozenal Society advocates for ditching the base-10 system we use for counting in favor of a base-12 system. E.g.: un trigésimo parte.Today is a big day for lovers of the number 12, and no one loves 12s more than the members of the Dozenal Society. Beyond "twentieths" we simply use an ordinal number with the word parte. From "elevenths" to "twentieths" we use cardinal numbers with the suffix avo. if feminine)Įxpress Spanish fractions the following way:įrom "fourths" to "tenths" we simply use ordinal numbers. We can do something similar in Spanish 1º, 2º,ģº, etc. We often use a sort of shorthand abbreviation for ordinals in English 1st, 2nd, 3rd, etc.Ordinals are not typically used with dates use cardinal numbers instead: "Hoy es el quince de enero.".When an ordinal prefix ending in "- imo" is combined with " octavo" one of the o's is dropped to avoid repeating the same sound, e.g.
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This is only true of primero and tercero. The ordinals primero and tercero are shortened to primer and tercer when used with masculine nouns.With the noun they modify, therefore "-o" endings change to "-a" When used as adjectives, all of the ordinals agree in gender.(such as the order in which runners finish a race). While we use cardinal numbers to count things, we use "ordinal numbers" to put things in order " veintiuno punto siete." Ordinal Numbers "21.7" would be written "21,7" in Spanish and would be read The majority of Spanish-speaking countries do the opposite of English-speakingĬountries when it comes to decimal points and grouping thousands: commas are usedįor decimal points and periods are used to separate the groups of zeros.
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Strange looking decimal points in the right hand column above. For example 654,321 tables would be written outĪs " seiscient as cincuenta y cuatro mil trescient as veintiun a mesas." Decimal Points and Commas " -uno" and words ending in " -ientos" (all of the "hundreds"Įvery part of a number that can agree with the However, this only happens with numbers ending in As with other adjectives, we need to make our numbers agree in gender with