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Counting system different from base 10 | ||
Tags: Number System | ||
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 Language Learning Forum : Philological Room |  | |
| tractor Tetraglot Senior Member Norway Joined 5454 days ago 1349 posts - 2292 votes  Speaks: Norwegian*, English, Spanish, Catalan Studies: French, German, Latin | Message 17 of 25 04 March 2011 at 11:06pm | IP Logged | ||
Why? Because Frenchmen have 12 fingers? 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| Spanky Senior Member Canada Joined 5957 days ago 1021 posts - 1714 votes Studies: French | Message 18 of 25 05 March 2011 at 12:02am | IP Logged | ||
I confess to not understanding the comment that the French use 12 rather than ten - did you perhaps mean "20"? Edited by Spanky on 05 March 2011 at 12:21am 2 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| tractor Tetraglot Senior Member Norway Joined 5454 days ago 1349 posts - 2292 votes Speaks: Norwegian*, English, Spanish, Catalan Studies: French, German, Latin | Message 19 of 25 05 March 2011 at 12:31am | IP Logged | ||
Hmm... Eight fingers? Thumb not a finger? I wasn't aware of that. English is a strange language indeed. Almost as strange as the French and their twelve fingers. I learnt something new today. 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| JW Hexaglot Senior Member United States youtube.com/user/egw Joined 6123 days ago 1802 posts - 2011 votes 22 sounds Speaks: English*, German, Spanish, Ancient Greek, French, Biblical Hebrew Studies: Luxembourgish, Dutch, Greek, Italian | Message 20 of 25 05 March 2011 at 2:46am | IP Logged | ||
English used to use this system as well: "Four score and seven years ago our fathers brought forth, upon this continent, a new nation" - from the Gettysburg address delivered in 1863 and referring to the American Revolution of 1776 which was 87 years earlier "The days of our years are three score years and ten; and if by reason of strength they be fourscore years, yet is their strength labor and sorrow; for it is soon cut off, and we fly away." Psalm 90:10 King James Bible - 1611 - three score and ten = 70 fourscore = 80 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| clumsy Octoglot Senior Member Poland lang-8.com/6715Registered users can see my Skype Name Joined 5179 days ago 1116 posts - 1367 votes Speaks: Polish*, English, Japanese, Korean, French, Mandarin, Italian, Vietnamese Studies: Spanish, Arabic (Written), Swedish Studies: Danish, Dari, Kirundi | Message 21 of 25 07 March 2011 at 4:37pm | IP Logged | ||
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OK, sorry, I misread it.
It is actually 20 in French. From Wikipedia: Some cultures do, or did, use other numeral systems, most notably * pre-Columbian Mesoamerican cultures such as the Maya used a base 20 system (using all twenty fingers and toes) and * the Babylonians used base 60. In addition, it has been suggested that many other cultures developed alternative numeral systems (although the extent is debated): * Many or all of the Chumashan languages originally used a base 4 counting system, in which the names for numbers were structured according to multiples of 4 and 16.[31] * Many languages[32] use quinary number systems, including Gumatj, Nunggubuyu,[33] Kuurn Kopan Noot[34] and Saraveca. Of these, Gumatj is the only true "5-25" language known, in which 25 is the higher group of 5. * Some Nigerians use base 12 systems[citation needed] * The Huli language of Papua New Guinea is reported to have base 15 numerals.[35] Ngui means 15, ngui ki means 15×2 = 30, and ngui ngui means 15×15 = 225. * Umbu-Ungu, also known as Kakoli, is reported to have base-24 numerals.[36][37] Tokapu means 24, tokapu talu means 24×2 = 48, and tokapu tokapu means 24×24 = 576. * Base 27 is used in two natural languages, the Telefol language and the Oksapmin language of Papua New Guinea.[citation needed] * Ngiti is reported to have a base 32 numeral system with base 4 cycles.[38] 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| cymrotom Tetraglot Groupie United States cymrympls.blogspot.c Joined 5038 days ago 56 posts - 60 votes Speaks: English*, German, Mandarin, Welsh | Message 22 of 25 10 March 2011 at 9:10pm | IP Logged | ||
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The traditional Welsh system is based on a bunch of weird stuff.
1-10 = normal 11 = "one on ten" 12 = is a little weird 13 - 14 = "three on ten" and "four on ten" 15 = it's own word "pymtheg" 16 = "one on fifteen" and two on fifteen" 18 = "two nines" 19 = "four on fifteen" 20 = it's own word "ugain/hugain" 21-24 = 1-4 on "hugain" 25 = 10 on "hugain" 26-29 6-9 on "hugain" 30 = 10 on "hugain" 40 = "deugain" (two "hugain") There is a decimal system now also in use for most numbers, but they use the traditional for ages and dates. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Welsh_language#Counting_system Edited by cymrotom on 10 March 2011 at 9:12pm 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| chrish3677 Newbie Australia Joined 4874 days ago 1 posts - 1 votes | Message 23 of 25 23 July 2011 at 4:30pm | IP Logged | ||
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It's surprising reading all these comments just how much variety there is in the world in its different cultures, in
base systems. Another interesting base commonly used, especially in one particular form, is base-13. In a deck of cards. 54 cards, 4 suits of 13, 2 jokers. In base-10, that's 54, in base-13, it's that magical number 42. (The meaning of life) 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| patuco Diglot Moderator Gibraltar Joined 7016 days ago 3795 posts - 4268 votes Speaks: Spanish, English* Personal Language Map | Message 24 of 25 04 August 2011 at 6:14pm | IP Logged | ||
Is this a spelling mistake or are 25 and 30 the same number in Welsh? 1 person has voted this message useful |
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