Inuit numerals
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| Numeral systems by culture | |
|---|---|
| Hindu-Arabic numerals | |
| Eastern Arabic Indian family Khmer |
Mongolian Thai Western Arabic |
| East Asian numerals | |
| Chinese Japanese Suzhou |
Korean Vietnamese Counting rods |
| Alphabetic numerals | |
| Abjad Armenian Āryabhaṭa Cyrillic |
Ge'ez Greek (Ionian) Hebrew |
| Other systems | |
| Aegean Attic Babylonian Brahmi Egyptian Etruscan |
Inuit Mayan Quipu Roman Sumerian Urnfield |
| List of numeral system topics | |
| Positional systems by base | |
| Decimal (10) | |
| 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 8, 12, 16, 20, 60 more… | |
Inuit, like other Eskimo languages (and Celtic and Mayan languages as well), uses a vigesimal counting system. Inuit counting has sub-bases at 5, 10, and 15.
Arabic numerals weren't adequate to represent the base-20 system, so students from Kaktovik, Alaska came up with an Inuit numeral system that has since gained wide use among Alaskan Iñupiaq, and is slowly gaining ground in other countries where Inuit is also spoken.[1]
The numeral system has helped to revive counting in Inuit, which had been falling into disuse among Inuit speakers due to the prevalence of the base-10 system in schools.
The picture below shows the numerals 1–19 and then 0.
[edit] References
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