15 ms·

Some unusual systems documented on these pages, pointed out by Gaston Ümlaut in his StackExchange answer[1]: * Orokaiva (Trans–New Guinea): digit-tally system

Some unusual systems documented on these pages, pointed out by Gaston Ümlaut in his StackExchange answer[1]: * Orokaiva (Trans–New Guinea): digit-tally system https://lingweb.eva.mpg.de/channumerals/Orokaiva.htm https://lingweb.eva.mpg.de/channumerals/Orokaiva.htm * Fas (Fas): binary system (base 2) https://lingweb.eva.mpg.de/channumerals/Momu-Fas.htm https://lingweb.eva.mpg.de/channumerals/Momu-Fas.htm * Pazeh (Austronesian): quinary (base 5) https://lingweb.eva.mpg.de/channumerals/Pazeh.htm https://lingweb.eva.mpg.de/channumerals/Pazeh.htm * Amis (Austronesian): decimal (base 10) https://lingweb.eva.mpg.de/channumerals/Amis.htm https://lingweb.eva.mpg.de/channumerals/Amis.htm * Ron (Afro-Asiatic, Chadic): duodecimal (base 12) https://lingweb.eva.mpg.de/channumerals/Ron-Chadic.htm https://lingweb.eva.mpg.de/channumerals/Ron-Chadic.htm * Barapasi (East Geelvink Bay): vigesimal (base 20) https://lingweb.eva.mpg.de/channumerals/Barapasi.htm https://lingweb.eva.mpg.de/channumerals/Barapasi.htm * Meyah (East Bird Head-Sentani): mixed-quinary/vigesimal https://lingweb.eva.mpg.de/channumerals/Meyah.htm https://lingweb.eva.mpg.de/channumerals/Meyah.htm [1]: https://linguistics.stackexchange.com/questions/2652/which-modern-spoken-languages-do-not-use-the-decimal-number-system https://linguistics.stackexchange.com/questions/2652/which-m...

ithkuil 3y ago
Fas doesn't appear to be base-2 number system in that it's not a positional number system. "Base" refers to the base of a positional number system. It's an unary system, where one quantity is grouped (2) like in a sign-value system but also used when speaking and not just in symbolic notation. It's like if our 10-centric languages we'd say thirty five as "ten ten ten five". In fas you'd say thirty five as "two two two two two two two two two two two two two two two two two one"
- tobbe2064 3y ago
  Its a bit surprising that none seems to have invented base 2. It should be the most expressive way to count using fingers since it allows 32 number to be expressed with a single hand and 1024 numbers with two hands. But I guess that would be overengineering and annoying for most early cultures.
  - ithkuil 3y ago
    In 2nd century BC, the the indian scholar Pingala wrote Chandaḥśāstra where he developed a positional little endian (least significant digit on the left) base-2 system using a sanskrit short syllable for 0 and long syllable for one

ithkuil 3y ago

Fas doesn't appear to be base-2 number system in that it's not a positional number system. "Base" refers to the base of a positional number system. It's an unary system, where one quantity is grouped (2) like in a sign-value system but also used when speaking and not just in symbolic notation. It's like if our 10-centric languages we'd say thirty five as "ten ten ten five". In fas you'd say thirty five as "two two two two two two two two two two two two two two two two two one"

tobbe2064 3y ago
Its a bit surprising that none seems to have invented base 2. It should be the most expressive way to count using fingers since it allows 32 number to be expressed with a single hand and 1024 numbers with two hands. But I guess that would be overengineering and annoying for most early cultures.
- ithkuil 3y ago
  In 2nd century BC, the the indian scholar Pingala wrote Chandaḥśāstra where he developed a positional little endian (least significant digit on the left) base-2 system using a sanskrit short syllable for 0 and long syllable for one