Re: Numbers and math

On Thu, 21 Sep 2000, taliesin the storyteller wrote:

> A classic question is: how do you count to ten in your conlang?
I wish my two history of math books talked more about this.  :-(

> Generalizing:
>  - do you form ordinals from cardinals? how? if not, how?
Cardinal is one, ordinal is first, right?  (Sorry, I can't tell my -inals
apart!)

Yes: you'd say "i miat" (one cat), "i hanir" (first), "i hanu" ("one" if
you're counting).

>  - do you have a zero?
Probably, but it didn't exist in the ancestor language and I haven't
figured out what it's called yet.  But then, in "modern" Chevraqis they
have logarithms.

>  - can numbers be negative?
Yes.

>  - fractions? percentiles? if it's not a decimal system, is there
>    something instead of percentiles?
Fractions.  No percentiles.  The system is a mix between base 5, 10 and
20 (I'd have to consult my notes for details).

>  - how do you add, subtract, multiply and divide? (if you know how)
Haven't worked that out because I'd need to review my history of math
books.  :-)

>  - what about raising to the nth power and n-roots?
Logarithms required --> exponents required.  Again, I haven't really done
any work on this; I'm working on more basic grammar.

You might try some history of math books, though.  Maybe you'll have
better luck than I!

YHL