Dear Florent and friends,

yes, in Pali, 9999 = Nava sahassa.m nava sata.m ekuunasata.m

In Pali, 9 = nava
but, 19 = ekuunavaasati (one less than twenty) ...
and, 99 = ekuunasata.m (one less than hundred).

That can be one confusion, but if you think, in Roman numerals,

nine = IX (one before ten),

then it will become more "acceptable". Probably, the problem is that
the ancients did not set up a scientific council to sort it out
before us.

You asked about Chinese. The Chinese numerals are marvellous, all
have a single character (and with simple strokes), and a single
syllable. The current Chinese numerals follow the positional system
we are all using. So, a number

4321 = four thousand three hundred two ten one

The simplicity of Chinese is beyond English,

20 = two ten (not twenty)
12 = ten two (not twelve).

A /notorious/ difference between English and Chinese system, would be
the Chinese numbers group by four digits, not three. To illustrate:

English:
1 = one
10 = ten
100 = hundred
1,000 = thousand, then...
1,000,000 = million
1,000,000,000 = billion
1,000,000,000,000 = trillion, etc.

[Please note that billion and trillion can be used very differently
in other European countries and languages; see
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Billion%5d

Chinese:
1 = yi
10 = shi
100 = bai
1000 = qian
1,0000 = wan, then...
1,0000,0000 = yi
1,0000,0000,0000 = zhao
1,0000,0000,0000,0000 = jing, etc.

[notice that the zeros are grouped in four, also notice that the
Chinese words are all single character, single syllable]

That is probably another confusion you will have converting between
English and Chinese, as you have with crore and lakh.

Eg. 10,000 = ten thousand (English) = one wan (Chinese) = one
nahuta.m (Pali)

100,000 = hundred thousand (English) = ten wan (Chinese) = one
lakkha.m (Pali) = one lakh

and, 10,000,000 = ten million (English) = thousand wan (Chinese) =
one ko.ti (Pali) = one crore

The confusion probably results from the computational translation
between the various 'groups'.

The current Arabic numeral and positional system is actually derived
from India (including the number zero). The Arabic numerals we are
using day-in day-out are descended from 3rd century BCE Brahmi
numerals! The positional notation system in used today came much
later. For more information,
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Numeral_system


metta,
Yong Peng.

--- In Pali@yahoogroups.com, flrobert2000 wrote:

I find the numbers in Pali quite confusing. It reminds me a lot of
the numbers in Bengali in which the terms crore and lakh are widely
used. It made it almost always totally impossible to discuss about
numbers with people. I would count in thousands or millions, they in
crores and lakhs and everyone would get very confused! Is there a
reason behind the fact that we use different numeral bases ? Are
there other countries (China ?) that like India use crores and lakhs ?

PS: By the way would the number of this post in Pali be Nava
sahassa.m nava sata.m ekuunasata.m?