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While only a small portion of the world’s languages are anumeric or nearly anumeric, they demonstrate that number words are not a human universal. This and many other experiments have converged upon a simple conclusion: When people do not have number words, they struggle to make quantitative distinctions that probably seem natural to someone like you or me. Responses suggest that anumeric people have some trouble keeping track of how many nuts remain in the can, even if there are only four or five in total. The person watching is asked to signal when all the nuts have been removed. In an experiment, a researcher will place nuts into a can one at a time, then remove them one by one. Without numbers, healthy human adults struggle to precisely differentiate and recall quantities as low as four. Researchers have also studied some adults in Nicaragua who were never taught number words. In a 2017 book, I explored the ways in which humans invented numbers, and how numbers subsequently played a critical role in other milestones, from the advent of agriculture to the genesis of writing.Ĭultures without numbers, or with only one or two precise numbers, include the Munduruku and Pirahã in Amazonia.
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Speakers of anumeric, or numberless, languages offer a window into how the invention of numbers reshaped the human experience. What’s more, the 7,000 or so languages that exist today vary dramatically in how they utilize numbers. For the bulk of our species’ approximately 200,000-year lifespan, we had no means of precisely representing quantities. The exact (and exacting) numbers we think with impact everything from our schedules to our self-esteem.īut, in a historical sense, numerically fixated people like us are the unusual ones. As you read this, you are likely aware of what time it is, how old you are, your checking account balance, your weight and so on. In contrast, our own lives are governed by numbers. Instead of using words for precise quantities, these people rely exclusively on terms analogous to “a few” or “some.” There are numberless hunter-gatherers embedded deep in Amazonia, living along branches of the world’s largest river tree. A source text containing “10.Numbers do not exist in all cultures.
NUMBERS IN DIFFERENT LANGUAGES ISO
The ISO ( International Organization for Standardization) and CEN ( Comité Européen de Normalisation) both specify that “the decimal sign shall be a comma”, whatever the language, so they would write 3,20 m and 1,48 bar.įor more detailed information (ISO Login required): PDFĪmerican companies in particular, when planning to translate technical documents into European languages, have to choose between a number of options, including whether to convert to metric and, if so, whether to use both systems and in which order, etc. Aesthetically, including both the decimal comma and decimal point can appear to be confused, even if most engineers will make sense of it. This works quite well in tables, but can be confusing in prose, especially when some of the numbers have no units. As a result, some writers mix them when making conversions. The metric system (more properly the SI or Système International) is associated with Europe and so a lot engineers are used to seeing the decimal comma used with metric units, but the decimal comma used with American units. And there’s a third possibility: that they are system-specific, meaning that even within one language there are times when you would use one system or another, or even mix them. But it’s not easy to say whether these conventions are language-specific or country-specific. So the usual approach when translating is to convert numbers according to the language in question. Some of them, especially French, use a space to separate thousands, but not necessarily millions (and of course you need to use non-breaking spaces to make sure the number doesn’t get split up at the end of a line). However, there are exceptions, such as Mexican Spanish. Most European countries, as well as countries that speak European languages, do it the other way round. The short answer is, English-speaking countries (and China) tend to use a decimal point and separate thousands with commas. But the most frequently asked question on this subject is: should I use the decimal comma or decimal point? imperial, and the definition of a billion. For example, there are issues with spacing, metric vs. It’s surprising how many conventions there are about writing numbers and quantities in different languages, and it’s not always easy to know what approach to take when translating.