numeral systems in Lonmai luna: view article

Lonmai Luna(Liunan) uses a base-20(vigesimal) positional notation system. Below are the numbers of Lonmai luna:

ma - 0
hi - 1
ta - 2
ti - 3
bo - 4
mi - 5
te - 6
pa - 7
da - 8
wo - 9
yu - 10
he - 11
ha - 12
tai - 13
be - 14
wi - 15
dai - 16
to - 17
so - 18
sai - 19
hima - 20(lit: one zero), which means 1*20^1 + 0*20^0

so 53 can be expressed as "tatai"(lit: two thirteen), which means 2*20^1 + 13*20^0 (= 2*20 + 13*1 = 40+13 = 53); 44 can be expressed as "tabo"(lit: two four), which means 2*20^1 + 4*20^0 (= 2*20 + 4*1 = 40+4 = 44); 301 can be expressed as "wihi" (), which means 15*20^1 + 1*20^0 (= 15*20 + 1*1 = 300+1 = 301) ; and 550 can be expressed as hipayu(1*20^2 + 7*20^1 + 10*20^0 (= 1*400 + 7*20 + 10*1 = 400+140+10 = 550))

the suffix -s is often used when the numbers are not modifying other words.

Besides the base-20 system, there are also a base-12 and a base-8 numeral system, but their usages are limited to some cases, the base-8 system is sometimes used cardinally for counting people and fruits(although they can also be counted by using the base-20 system), and is used ordinally for the time unit "dalma"(dalma = 15 minutes); and the base-12 system is used ordinally for time units "ranta"(ranta means month), "fam"(fam means day) and "hampa"(1 "hampa" = 2 hours):

numbers of the base-8 system:

roka - 1
teksa - 2
dika - 3
tirka - 4
bika - 5
daika - 6
faka - 7
daka - 8
dakadak - 64(for the base-8 system only)

larger numbers in the base-8 system are expressed as following examples:

53 = "daika daka (mop) bika", which means 6*8 + 5
44 = "bika daka (mop) tirka", which means 5*8 + 4

numbers of the base-12 system:

rokai - 1
teklai - 2
dilai - 3
tirai - 4
bilai - 5
dayai - 6
falai - 7
dakai - 8
ulai - 9
yulai - 10
kayai - 11
kalmai - 12
kalmaikal - 144(for the base-12 system only)

larger numbers in the base-12 system are expressed in a way similar to the way used in the base-8 system:

53 = "tirai kalmai (mop) bilai", which means 4*12 + 5
44 = "dilai kalmai (mop) dakai", which means 3*12 + 8

therefore the base-8 system and the base-12 system are not positional notataion systems. They don't use zero, and the word of zero(ma) cannot be used with the base-8 system and the base-12 system.

the base-8 system can count up to 64; the base-12 system can count up to 144; while the base-20 system is unlimited.

the base-20 system must be used with classifiers to modify nouns except in compound words; while the base-8 and base-12 system are not used with classifiers to modify nouns. ✎ Edit Article ✖ Delete Article

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