> 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.
IIRC, Japanese uses [man] for ten thousand. In juxtaposition with [sEn]
(thousand),
[sEn sEn] is a million and [sEn man] is ten million. Someone please correct
me on
this. It's been a long while.
[...]
> Andreas
>
Jake