18. All things which are true of some numbers of one unit are true of
the same numbers of any other unit. Thus, 15 pebbles and 7 pebbles
together make 22 pebbles; 15 acres and 7 acres together make 22 acres,
and so on. From this we come to say that 15 and 7 make 22, meaning that
15 things of the same kind, and 7 more of the same kind as the first,
together make 22 of that kind, whether the kind mentioned be pebbles,
horsemen, acres of land, or any other. For these it is but necessary to
say, once for all, that 15 and 7 make 22. Therefore, in future, on this
part of the subject I shall cease to talk of any particular units, such
as pebbles or acres, and speak of numbers only. A number, considered
without intending to allude to any particular things, is called an
_abstract_ number: and it then merely signifies repetitions of a unit,
or the _number of times_ a unit is repeated.
19. I will now repeat the principal things which have been mentioned in
this chapter.
I. Ten signs are used, one to stand for nothing, the rest for the first
nine numbers. They are 0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9. The first of these
is called a _cipher_.
II. Higher numbers have not signs for themselves, but are signified
by placing the signs already mentioned by the side of each other, and
agreeing that the first figure on the right hand shall keep the value
which it has when it stands alone; that the second on the right hand
shall mean ten times as many as it does when it stands alone; that the
third figure shall mean one hundred times as many as it does when it
stands alone; the fourth, one thousand times as many; and so on.
III. The right hand figure is said to be in the _units’ place_, the
next to that in the _tens’ place_, the third in the _hundreds’ place_,
and so on.
IV. When a number is itself an exact number of tens, hundreds, or
thousands, &c., as many ciphers must be placed on the right of it as
will bring the number into the place which is intended for it. The
following are examples:
Fifty, or five tens, 50: seven hundred, 700.
Five hundred and twenty-eight thousand, 528000.
If it were not for the ciphers, these numbers would be mistaken for 5,
7, and 528.
V. A cipher in the middle of a number becomes necessary when any one of
the denominations, units, tens, &c. is wanting. Thus, twenty thousand
and six is 20006, two hundred and six is 206. Ciphers might be placed
at the beginning of a number, but they would have no meaning. Thus 026
is the same as 26, since the cipher merely shews that there are no
hundreds, which is evident from the number itself.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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