Honest Examination of Race

[BSB]

Anatole France said,"To learn another language is to gain another soul."

Many experts say that Chines, Japanese and Koreans are better at math because the names for the numbers are more logical.

11 in English is"eleven", which does not suggest that either ten or one is involved.

11 in Chinese translates "ten-one"

English adds the teen to numbers  13 through 19, then all the rest of the numbers are in the opposite order. Twenty-two.

It is easier to do math in your head if you speak Chinese.

What does Chinese for 22 translate to?



BSB

[kimba1]

Two ten two

Ngee sup ngee

Ng sound does not exist in the english

I think th in "the" does not in chinese

[BSB]

Two ten two

Ngee sup ngee

Ng sound does not exist in the english

I think th in "the" does not in chinese

And so forth. Makes sense.


BSB

[Xavier_Onassis]

In English, we write some numbers bass ackwards, like German. Fourteen. Funf und Zwanzeig. pronounced four -ten, written 14. Four and Twenty, written 24.

How about French: 99 is quatre-vignts-dix-neuf, four twenties, nineteen.

Chinese, Korean and Japanese use a much less confusing way of saying and writing numbers. Many say that this makes math easier for people who speak these languages.

[kimba1]

Omg!!

I remember in my youth it took years to keep track of 14 & 40

I still cant do roman numeral which i think is base five??

[Xavier_Onassis]

Roman numerals are not base five, they are base ten.

I, II, III, IV, V, VI, VII, VIII, IX, X,
XI, XII, XIII, XIV, XV, XVI, XVII, XIX, XX.

I or any letter to the right adds one, I or any letter to the left, subtracts.

VI+ 5+1, 6
IV = 5-1, 4

L= 50
XL= 50-10 or 40
LX = 50+10, 60

M=1000
MM= 2000
C=100
D=500
1950= MCML
1998= MCMXCVIII
2013= MMXIII

It does not seem as though the idea of teaching Roman numerals via Superbowl games has worked.

You are right, Roman numerals are awkward and confusing.
The Romans managed to build the Parthenon nearly 2000 years ago, with a giant dome and it is still standing.
If you wondered how they did the engineering math with Roman numerals, the answer is, they didn't.
They used a sort of abacus resembling a cribbage board for the math.

[BSB]

"I or any letter to the right adds one, I or any letter to the left, subtracts"

I guess I knew that because I've always known simple things like IV=4, or XIX=19. But when they start throwing the M and D, etc, around my eyes glaze over and I lose that method. I think I got it now.


BSB

[Xavier_Onassis]

The tricky part is that the letter to the left cannot be just any letter.

For example, 49 is XLIX, because IL is not permissible.
45 is XLV, because VL is not permissible.

38 has to be XXXVIII, because the rules will not permit IIXL

The rules are available here:http://www.bing.com/images/search?q=Roman+numeral+rules&qpvt=Roman+numeral+rules&FORM=IGRE