[Tlhingan-hol] 125,000

[André Müller]

We cannot actually infer from the fact that Klingon introduces a new
number-forming element for every additional zero, that it goes on like
this. Thai does a similar thing but stops at "million" (ล้าน [lá:n]). So
there is no new word for 10 million, as one might infer from the pattern,
but one calls it simply สิบล้าน [sìp lá:n] = "ten million". As far as I'm
aware it's even common to speak of ล้านล้าน [lá:n lá:n] = "one million
million".
Anyways, no other choice in Klingon anyway, as we couldn't guess the names
for any higher numbers.

Greetings,
- André

2012/6/6 Robyn Stewart <robyn at flyingstart.ca>

> The Chinese system is a useful and productive one, but the pattern that we
> see in Klingon from ten to a million is that there is a new word for every
> factor of ten, just as American English has a new word for every factor of
> a thousand.
>
> I like your attention-span-saving suggestion.
>
> - Robyn
>
> At 10:02 '?????' 6/6/2012, Felix Malmenbeck wrote:
>
>> I've always just assumed that Klingon numbers work in such a way that
>> it'd be wa'bIp cha'netlh vaghSaD, but I see now that that's not strictly
>> stated in TKD. I would assumed, however, that it's sort of like the system
>> commonly used in modern-day China: You have names for 0-9, and then words
>> for 10, 100, 1 000 and - unlike in English - 10 000 ("myriad"). Then,
>> instead of saying "one hundred thousands", you say "ten myriads". Likewise,
>> 1 000 000 is "100 myriads", and 10 000 000 becomes "1 000 myriads". Then,
>> you have the next step: A y¨¬, which is ten thousand squared, or 100
>> million.  To say "one billion", you say "10 y¨¬", and ten billion is "100
>> y¨¬", and so forth up to the zh¨¤o, which is 10 000 to the third power, or
>> a myriad myriad myriads. Next is j¨©ng (10^16), g¨¡i (10^20), z¨« (10^24)
>> and so forth. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/**
>> Chinese_numerals#Large_numbers<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chinese_numerals#Large_numbers>In other words, while most of us are used to a convention which needs a new
>> name for every factor 1 000 (or, by the long count, 1 000 000), most
>> Chinese people [as I understand it] would be used to one which takes a new
>> step for every factor 10 000. Therefore, I'd guess that the next [commonly
>> used but unknown to us] Klingon number-forming element would be one for a
>> 10^2; the number which is 1 greater than 999,999,999,999 (which, similar to
>> you, I think would probably be called <HutbIp Hutnetlh HutSaD Hutvatlh
>> HutmaH Hut'uy' HutbIp Hutnetlh HutSaD Hutvatlh HutmaH Hut>)*. Perhaps when
>> explaining such big numbers to laymen, Klingon mathematicians refer to this
>> element as <wa''uy''uy'>. ------------------------------**-----------
>> WARNING: Going off on a tangent. ------------------------------**-----------
>> *Another alternative, which requires more syllables but may not be as
>> demanding on your attention span, is <HutbIp'uy' Hutnetlh'uy'
>> HutSaD'uy'...>. That way, you don't have to wait twelve syllables before
>> you find out what order of magnitude you're dealing with; it'll always be
>> right there in the third. One could of course imagine all sort of systems.
>> For example, one that squares upwards after 'uy': If the next
>> number-forming elements is called X, and 1X = 1'uy''uy' = 10^12, then the
>> next one, Y, would be 1'uy'X (10^18), but 1XX (10^24), and Z would be
>> 10^48. So, if you wanted to say 24*10^42 (24 tredecillion), you'd have to
>> say cha'maH'uy'XY loS'uy'XY. Dunno if that'd be practical, but you never
>> know with alien species :P ______________________________**__________
>> From: Qov [robyn at flyingstart.ca] Sent: Wednesday, June 06, 2012 17:17
>> To: De'vID jonpIn; tlhIngan-Hol Subject: Re: [Tlhingan-hol] 125,000 I see
>> that TKD says "some of the number forming elements for higher numbers are
>> ..." and stops at 'uy'. Clearly there are more we don't know. That suggests
>> to me that there is one for each place up as high as Klingons need to count
>> before whatever their scientifix notation is cuts in. But just as people
>> who want to be clear when talking to an international audience avoid words
>> like billion and say "a thousand million" or "a mllion million,"  I imagine
>> 423,198,765,432 could be understood as loSbIp cha'netlh wejSaD wa'vatlh
>> HutmaH chorgh'uy' Soch bIp javnetlh vaghSaD loSmaH wejmaH cha'. - Qov At
>> 01:56 '?????' 6/6/2012, De'vID jonpIn wrote: >Qov: > >>> qepHomwIjDaq jatlh
>> ghojwI', "chay' <125,000> jIjatlh?" > >*{wa' chorghvI' 'uy'} > >No, not
>> really, but I wish *{-vI'} generalised in this way (from {vatlhvI'}). >
>> >qurgh: > >> wa'bIp cha'netlh vaghSaD > >Qov: > > That makes sense. Is that
>> canonical, qurgh? > >Why else would we have {bIp} and {netlh}? > >--
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