Numbers and Numerals

  • Numbers and Numerals

Numbers and Numerals


Roman Numeral Round Analog Clock
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Numbers

A number is an item that describes a magnitude or a position.

There are two classifications of Numbers: Cardinal and Ordinal.

Cardinal numbers are numbers which allows to count items in a given set. For example, 1, 2, 3 ... 100, 1000, 10 000.

Ordinal numbers are numbers that pertain to the position of an item in a sequence. For example: first, second, third and so on...



Numerals

Numerals are symbols or combination of symbols which describe a number. There are two common numerals: Arabic and Roman.

Arabic numerals are the modification of the Hindu-Arabic signs. This is the most common used numeral. It's digits include 0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9. Each digit are used in combination in ascending order.

Roman Numerals are numerals written in Latin Alphabet. Each digit symbolizes a specific number and can only be used three times.

I - 1
V- 5
X - 10
L - 50
C - 100
D - 500
M - 1000

The Romans used multipliers to indicate large numbers.

  1. Bracket - multiply by 100 times
    2. $$eg. |X| = 1,000 $$
  2. Vinculum - multiply by 1,000 times
    3. $$eg. \bar{X} = 10,000 $$
  3. Doorframe - multiply by 1,000,000 times
    4. $$eg. |\bar{X}| = 10,000,000 $$

Here is an example of Roman numerals:

I = 1 X = 10 C = 100 M = 1000
II = 2 XX = 20 CC = 200 MM = 2000
III = 3 XXX = 30 CCC = 300 MMM = 3000
IV = 4 XL = 40 CD = 400
V = 5 L = 50 D = 500
VI = 6 LX = 60 DC = 600
VII = 7 LXX = 70 DCC = 700
VIII = 8 LXXX = 80 DCCC = 800
IX = 9 XC = 90 CM = 900