PART I. - NUMBERS. THE EXPRESSION OF NUMBERS. Numbers are commonly expressed either by words or by characters called numerals. The numerals usually employed are the Arabic, viz.: These characters are called figures or digits. Digit is also used to signify the number for which one of these characters stands. With the exception of cipher, which applies to the character only, the name of each of these ten characters is the same as the name of the number for which the character stands. NOTE. The idea of zero as a number is almost a necessary consequence of counting backward. The starting-point is one. Counting forward gives two, three, etc.; counting backward, two, one, zero. Two is one less than three; one, one less than two; zero, one less than one. 1 is read one. 2 is read two. O is read nothing, zero, or nought. 10 is read one ten, or ten. 20 is read two tens, or twenty. 1 24 is read two tens and four, or twenty-four. The cipher adds nothing to the value. 100 is read ten tens, or one hundred. 200 is read two hundred. 204 is read two hundred and four. 1004 is read one thousand and four. 1024 is read one thousand and twenty-four. 2364 is read two thousand three hundred and sixty-four, or twenty-three hundred and sixty-four. |