Numbers (was: RE: Ebonic Christmas)

Axiem <axiem@...> wrote:

>    How do you all handle numbers, anyways? Like saying "I have 5 things"
> or whatever? Would it be considered an adjective, or article of some
> sort? I know Di^me'l uses base 16 numbers, but I'm not sure how to say I
> have so many of an object, or even how to count above 10 (base 16)..like
> would 11 be (ten)(one) or (one)(ten) or something else?
In Draseléq, almost everything that qualifies or quantifies a noun phrase
is a verb, and numbers are included, so you have:

        deten 'to be one'
        kladnel 'to be two'
        mursen 'to be three'

and you use the participles, like 'one-being person' = 'one person'.
There are several participles, more or less interchangeable in the
case of numbers; but for the first numbers, however, the usual form
is fixed (_det_ 'one', _kladn_/_klan_ 'two', _murs_ 'three', etc.).
Sometimes you nominalize the numbers (especially for years, days,
etc.):

        mèf  i piestadnel
        days * fifty

where _i_ is both nominalizing and 'compositive' ('a fifty-group of
days'). [This particle _i_ is the catch-all linking particle -- I
wrote a whole article on its usage!]

The ordinals are usually formed by adding the verb suffix -ar(sen)
'to be (in a position)' to the participle or a form of it, and then
using the participle of the new verb:

        d-arsen 'to be first'
        kland-arsen 'to be second'
        murs-arsen 'to be third'

The numbers are named in the inverse order as we do, i. e. beginning
by the units, then the tens, etc. (Is this natural?)

Some examples:

        I murs  kof    ladhet
        * three things have.1s
        'I have two things'


        Thä         murs  kof
        there_be.3p three things
        'There are three things'

        Murek    kof
        three.3p things
        'The things are three', 'The quantity of things is three'


As for base:

A number in base N is expressed using integer digits in the range
[0..(N-1)]. So base 10 (decimal) uses 0..9, and base 16 uses 0..15
(for convenience, 10..15 are expressed as a..f). In a base N number,
written in the conventional order (most significant digit first),
each digit in a particular position is N times its absolute value,
that is, N times what it would 'weigh' if it were in the position
just to the right.

In general, if a number is expressed as {dm d(m-1) ... d2 d1 d0}
or {di}, the number equals

        d0*N^0 + d1*N^1 + ... + d(m-1)*N^(m-1) + dm*N^m =
        = Sum[di * N^i]

So in the decimal number 1234,

        4 is 4*10^0 = 4
        3 is 3*10^1 = 30
        2 is 2*10^2 = 200
        1 is 1*10^3 = 1000

Same for any base, changing 10 to the base, except that you also
have to transform the higher digits (over 10) if they are expressed
by letters.

There's a simple algorithm to transform numbers from a base to any
other one -- I can send it to you privately if you want.


--Pablo Flores
  http://www.geocities.com/pablo-david/index.html
  http://www.geocities.com/pablo-david/draseleq.html