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NumeralsystemWikipedia,thefreeencyclopedia

Numeralsystem
FromWikipedia,thefreeencyclopedia

Anumeralsystem(orsystemofnumeration)isawritingsystemforexpressingnumbers,thatis,a
mathematicalnotationforrepresentingnumbersofagivenset,usingdigitsorothersymbolsinaconsistent
manner.Itcanbeseenasthecontextthatallowsthesymbols"11"tobeinterpretedasthebinarysymbolfor
three,thedecimalsymbolforeleven,orasymbolforothernumbersindifferentbases.
Thenumberthenumeralrepresentsiscalleditsvalue.
Ideally,anumeralsystemwill:
Representausefulsetofnumbers(e.g.allintegers,orrationalnumbers)
Giveeverynumberrepresentedauniquerepresentation(oratleastastandardrepresentation)
Reflectthealgebraicandarithmeticstructureofthenumbers.
Forexample,theusualdecimalrepresentationofwholenumbersgiveseverynonzerowholenumbera
uniquerepresentationasafinitesequenceofdigits,beginningbyanonzerodigit.However,whendecimal
representationisusedfortherationalorrealnumbers,suchnumbersingeneralhaveaninfinitenumberof
representations,forexample2.31canalsobewrittenas2.310,2.3100000,2.309999999...,etc.,allofwhich
havethesamemeaningexceptforsomescientificandothercontextswheregreaterprecisionisimpliedbya
largernumberoffiguresshown.
Numeralsystemsaresometimescallednumbersystems,butthatnameisambiguous,asitcouldreferto
differentsystemsofnumbers,suchasthesystemofrealnumbers,thesystemofcomplexnumbers,the
systemofpadicnumbers,etc.Suchsystemsarenotthetopicofthisarticle.

Contents
1Mainnumeralsystems
2Positionalsystemsindetail
3Generalizedvariablelengthintegers
4Seealso
5References
6Sources
7Externallinks

Mainnumeralsystems

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ThemostcommonlyusedsystemofnumeralsistheHinduArabicnumeralsystem.TwoIndian
mathematiciansarecreditedwithdevelopingit.AryabhataofKusumapuradevelopedtheplacevalue
notationinthe5thcenturyandacenturylaterBrahmaguptaintroducedthesymbolforzero.[1]Thenumeral
systemandthezeroconcept,developedbytheHindusinIndia,slowlyspreadtoothersurrounding
countriesduetotheircommercialandmilitaryactivitieswithIndia.TheArabsadoptedandmodifiedit.
Eventoday,theArabscallthenumeralstheyuse"RakamAlHind"ortheHindunumeralsystem.The
ArabstranslatedHindutextsonnumerologyandspreadthemtothewesternworldduetotheirtradelinks
withthem.TheWesternworldmodifiedthemandcalledthemtheArabicnumerals,astheylearnedfrom
them.HencethecurrentwesternnumeralsystemisthemodifiedversionoftheHindunumeralsystem
developedinIndia.ItalsoexhibitsagreatsimilaritytotheSanskritDevanagarinotation,whichisstillused
inIndia.
Thesimplestnumeralsystemistheunarynumeralsystem,inwhicheverynaturalnumberisrepresentedby
acorrespondingnumberofsymbols.Ifthesymbol/ischosen,forexample,thenthenumbersevenwould
berepresentedby///////.Tallymarksrepresentonesuchsystemstillincommonuse.Theunarysystemis
onlyusefulforsmallnumbers,althoughitplaysanimportantroleintheoreticalcomputerscience.Elias
gammacoding,whichiscommonlyusedindatacompression,expressesarbitrarysizednumbersbyusing
unarytoindicatethelengthofabinarynumeral.
Theunarynotationcanbeabbreviatedbyintroducingdifferentsymbolsforcertainnewvalues.Very
commonly,thesevaluesarepowersof10soforinstance,if/standsforone,fortenand+for100,then
thenumber304canbecompactlyrepresentedas+++////andthenumber123as+///withoutany
needforzero.Thisiscalledsignvaluenotation.TheancientEgyptiannumeralsystemwasofthistype,and
theRomannumeralsystemwasamodificationofthisidea.
Moreusefulstillaresystemswhichemployspecialabbreviationsforrepetitionsofsymbolsforexample,
usingthefirstninelettersofthealphabetfortheseabbreviations,withAstandingfor"oneoccurrence",B
"twooccurrences",andsoon,onecouldthenwriteC+D/forthenumber304.Thissystemisusedwhen
writingChinesenumeralsandotherEastAsiannumeralsbasedonChinese.Thenumbersystemofthe
Englishlanguageisofthistype("threehundred[and]four"),asarethoseofotherspokenlanguages,
regardlessofwhatwrittensystemstheyhaveadopted.However,manylanguagesusemixturesofbases,and
otherfeatures,forinstance79inFrenchissoixantedixneuf(60+10+9)andinWelshispedwarar
bymthegathrigain(4+(5+10)+(320))or(somewhatarchaic)pedwarugainnamynun(4201).In
English,onecouldsay"fourscorelessone",asinthefamousGettysburgAddressrepresenting"87years
ago"as"fourscoreandsevenyearsago".
Moreelegantisapositionalsystem,alsoknownasplacevaluenotation.Againworkinginbase10,ten
differentdigits0,...,9areusedandthepositionofadigitisusedtosignifythepoweroftenthatthedigitis
tobemultipliedwith,asin304=3100+010+41ormoreprecisely3102+0101+4100.Notethat
zero,whichisnotneededintheothersystems,isofcrucialimportancehere,inordertobeableto"skip"a
power.TheHinduArabicnumeralsystem,whichoriginatedinIndiaandisnowusedthroughouttheworld,
isapositionalbase10system.
Arithmeticismucheasierinpositionalsystemsthanintheearlieradditiveonesfurthermore,additive
systemsneedalargenumberofdifferentsymbolsforthedifferentpowersof10apositionalsystemneeds
onlytendifferentsymbols(assumingthatitusesbase10).

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Positionaldecimalsystemispresentlyuniversallyusedinhumanwriting.Thebase1000isalsoused,by
groupingthedigitsandconsideringasequenceofthreedecimaldigitsasasingledigit.Thisisthemeaning
ofthecommonnotation1,000,234,567usedforverylargenumbers.
Incomputers,themainnumeralsystemsarebasedonthepositionalsysteminbase2(binarynumeral
system),withtwobinarydigits,0and1.Positionalsystemsobtainedbygroupingbinarydigitsbythree
(octalnumeralsystem)orfour(hexadecimalnumeralsystem)arecommonlyused.Forverylargeintegers,
bases232or264(groupingbinarydigitsby32or64,thelengthofthemachineword)areused,as,for
example,inGMP.
Thenumeralsusedwhenwritingnumberswithdigitsorsymbolscanbedividedintotwotypesthatmight
becalledthearithmeticnumerals0,1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9andthegeometricnumerals1,10,100,1000,10000...,
respectively.Thesignvaluesystemsuseonlythegeometricnumeralsandthepositionalsystemsuseonly
thearithmeticnumerals.Asignvaluesystemdoesnotneedarithmeticnumeralsbecausetheyaremadeby
repetition(exceptfortheIonicsystem),andapositionalsystemdoesnotneedgeometricnumeralsbecause
theyaremadebyposition.However,thespokenlanguageusesbotharithmeticandgeometricnumerals.
Incertainareasofcomputerscience,amodifiedbasekpositionalsystemisused,calledbijective
numeration,withdigits1,2,...,k(k1),andzerobeingrepresentedbyanemptystring.Thisestablishesa
bijectionbetweenthesetofallsuchdigitstringsandthesetofnonnegativeintegers,avoidingthenon
uniquenesscausedbyleadingzeros.Bijectivebaseknumerationisalsocalledkadicnotation,nottobe
confusedwithpadicnumbers.Bijectivebase1isthesameasunary.

Positionalsystemsindetail
Inapositionalbasebnumeralsystem(withbanaturalnumbergreaterthan1knownastheradix),bbasic
symbols(ordigits)correspondingtothefirstbnaturalnumbersincludingzeroareused.Togeneratethe
restofthenumerals,thepositionofthesymbolinthefigureisused.Thesymbolinthelastpositionhasits
ownvalue,andasitmovestotheleftitsvalueismultipliedbyb.
Forexample,inthedecimalsystem(base10),thenumeral4327means
(4103)+(3102)+(2101)+(7100),notingthat100=1.
Ingeneral,ifbisthebase,onewritesanumberinthenumeralsystemofbasebbyexpressingitintheform
anbn+an1bn1+an2bn2+...+a0b0andwritingtheenumerateddigitsanan1an2...a0in
descendingorder.Thedigitsarenaturalnumbersbetween0andb1,inclusive.
Ifatext(suchasthisone)discussesmultiplebases,andifambiguityexists,thebase(itselfrepresentedin
base10)isaddedinsubscripttotherightofthenumber,likethis:numberbase.Unlessspecifiedbycontext,
numberswithoutsubscriptareconsideredtobedecimal.
Byusingadottodividethedigitsintotwogroups,onecanalsowritefractionsinthepositionalsystem.For
example,thebase2numeral10.11denotes121+020+121+122=2.75.
Ingeneral,numbersinthebasebsystemareoftheform:

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Thenumbersbkandbkaretheweightsofthecorrespondingdigits.Thepositionkisthelogarithmofthe
correspondingweightw,thatis
.Thehighestusedpositionisclosetotheorderof
magnitudeofthenumber.
Thenumberoftallymarksrequiredintheunarynumeralsystemfordescribingtheweightwouldhavebeen
w.Inthepositionalsystem,thenumberofdigitsrequiredtodescribeitisonly
,fork
0.Forexample,todescribetheweight1000thenfourdigitsareneededbecause
.Thenumberofdigitsrequiredtodescribethepositionis
(inpositions1,10,100,...onlyforsimplicityinthedecimalexample).
Position

...

100

10

0.1

0.01

...

...

Weight
Digit
Decimalexampleweight 1000
Decimalexampledigit

Notethatanumberhasaterminatingorrepeatingexpansionifandonlyifitisrationalthisdoesnot
dependonthebase.Anumberthatterminatesinonebasemayrepeatinanother(thus
0.310=0.0100110011001...2).Anirrationalnumberstaysaperiodic(withaninfinitenumberofnon
repeatingdigits)inallintegralbases.Thus,forexampleinbase2,=3.1415926...10canbewrittenasthe
aperiodic11.001001000011111...2.
Puttingoverscores,n,ordots,,abovethecommondigitsisaconventionusedtorepresentrepeating
rationalexpansions.Thus:
14/11=1.272727272727...=1.27or321.3217878787878...=321.32178.
Ifb=pisaprimenumber,onecandefinebasepnumeralswhoseexpansiontotheleftneverstopsthese
arecalledthepadicnumbers.

Generalizedvariablelengthintegers
Moregeneralisusingamixedradixnotation(herewrittenlittleendian)like
,etc.

for

Thisisusedinpunycode,oneaspectofwhichistherepresentationofasequenceofnonnegativeintegers
ofarbitrarysizeintheformofasequencewithoutdelimiters,of"digits"fromacollectionof36:azand0
9,representing025and2635respectively.Adigitlowerthanathresholdvaluemarksthatitisthemost
significantdigit,hencetheendofthenumber.Thethresholdvaluedependsonthepositioninthenumber.
Forexample,ifthethresholdvalueforthefirstdigitisb(i.e.1)thena(i.e.0)markstheendofthenumber

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(ithasjustonedigit),soinnumbersofmorethanonedigittherangeisonlyb9(135),thereforethe
weightb1is35insteadof36.Supposethethresholdvaluesforthesecondandthirddigitsarec(2),thenthe
thirddigithasaweight3435=1190andwehavethefollowingsequence:
a(0),ba(1),ca(2),..,9a(35),bb(36),cb(37),..,9b(70),bca(71),..,99a(1260),bcb(1261),etc.
Unlikearegularbasednumeralsystem,therearenumberslike9bwhere9andbeachrepresents35yetthe
representationisuniquebecauseacandacaarenotallowedtheawouldterminatethenumber.
Theflexibilityinchoosingthresholdvaluesallowsoptimizationdependingonthefrequencyofoccurrence
ofnumbersofvarioussizes.
Thecasewithallthresholdvaluesequalto1correspondstobijectivenumeration,wherethezeros
correspondtoseparatorsofnumberswithdigitswhicharenonzero.

Seealso
Listofnumeralsystems
Computernumberingformats
Goldenratiobase
Listofnumeralsystemtopics
nary
Numbernames
Quaterimaginarybase
Quipu
Recurringdecimal
Residuenumbersystem
Shortandlongscales
Subtractivenotation
yllion
Numericalcognition
Numbersystem

References
1. DavidEugeneSmithLouisCharlesKarpinski(1911).TheHinduArabicnumerals(http://books.google.com/?
id=wEw6AAAAMAAJ).GinnandCompany.

Sources
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GeorgesIfrah.TheUniversalHistoryofNumbers:FromPrehistorytotheInventionofthe
Computer,Wiley,1999.ISBN0471375683.
D.Knuth.TheArtofComputerProgramming.Volume2,3rdEd.AddisonWesley.pp.194213,
"PositionalNumberSystems".
A.L.Kroeber(AlfredLouisKroeber)(18761960),HandbookoftheIndiansofCalifornia,Bulletin
78oftheBureauofAmericanEthnologyoftheSmithsonianInstitution(1919)
J.P.MalloryandD.Q.Adams,EncyclopediaofIndoEuropeanCulture,FitzroyDearbornPublishers,
LondonandChicago,1997.
HansJ.NissenPeterDamerowRobertK.Englund(1993).ArchaicBookkeeping:EarlyWritingand
TechniquesofEconomicAdministrationintheAncientNearEast.UniversityOfChicagoPress.
ISBN9780226586595.
SchmandtBesserat,Denis(1996).HowWritingCameAbout.UniversityofTexasPress.ISBN978
0292777040.
Zaslavsky,Claudia(1999).Africacounts:numberandpatterninAfricancultures.ChicagoReview
Press.ISBN9781556523502.

Externallinks
NumericalMechanismsandChildren'sConceptofNumbers
(http://web.media.mit.edu/~stefanm/society/som_final.html)
Softwareforconvertingfromonenumeralsystemtoanother

Lookupnumerationor
numeralinWiktionary,the
freedictionary.

(http://billposer.org/Software/libuninum.html)
Onlineconversionoffractionalnumbersbetweennumeralsystems(http://planetcalc.com/862)
Opensourcenumeralsystemsconverter(https://sourceforge.net/projects/numesystconvert/)
Opensourcenumeralsystemscalculator(https://sourceforge.net/projects/numsystemcalcul/)
Onlinemultinumeralsystemconverter(http://numeralsystems.urfu.pl)
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