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Re: CHAT: Measurements (was: Re: CHAT: browsers)

From:Joe <joe@...>
Date:Tuesday, February 11, 2003, 21:25
On Tuesday 11 February 2003 8:45 pm, kendra wrote:
> Andreas said: > > Chrsitophe Grandsire: > > >Or because we don't have a single word for "ten thousands" (which seems > > to > > > >me > > >to be the definite explanation ;)) ). As for Asian cultures which do > > > have > > a > > > >single word for "ten thousands" but still group figures in threes, > > > that's due > > >to the fact that they borrowed the Arabic figures from us without > > adapting > > > >them > > >to their use. > > > > Time for the next instalment of the aperiodic Conlang Conspiracy (tm). > > We're > > > all going to consistently use "myriad" for 10,000 till it becomes > > accepted usage! > > Myriad is a great word, isn't it? it sounds like a name to me. Myriad and > Myrtle. > Somewhat on the subject of measurements and numbers, though, are there any > places in the world which don't use the Arabic numeral way of doing things? > As an American I have a hard time imagining life without zero and have > spent most of the morning in bed thinking about it, since I'm trying to > figure out how to write numbers in this brushy-calligraphy-kind-of-thing > I've been working on. How do systems that don't have zeros or use places > (tens and hundreds and stuff) write numbers? > >
Well, you can't do advance mathematics without a zero, obviously, but who wants to count how much of nothing there is? Also, how to write numbers without 0? Just look at roman numerals. I, X, C, M for 1, 10, 100, 1000.