Quinary
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Quinary (base-5) is a numeral system with five as the base. This originates from the five fingers on either hand.
In the quinary place system, five numerals from 0 to 4, are used to represent any real number. According to this method, five is written as 10, twenty-five is written as 100 and sixty is written as 220.
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[edit] Usage
Many languages[1] use quinary number systems, including Gumatj, Nunggubuyu,[2], Kuurn Kopan Noot[3] and Saraveca. Of these, Gumatj is the only true "5-25" language known, in which 25 is the higher group of 5. The Gumatj numerals are shown below:
Number | Numeral |
---|---|
1 | wanggany |
2 | marrma |
3 | lurrkun |
4 | dambumiriw |
5 | wanggany rulu |
10 | marrma rulu |
15 | lurrkun rulu |
20 | dambumiriw rulu |
25 | dambumirri rulu |
50 | marrma dambumirri rulu |
75 | lurrkun dambumirri rulu |
100 | dambumiriw dambumirri rulu |
125 | dambumirri dambumirri rulu |
625 | dambumirri dambumirri dambumirri rulu |
A decimal system with 5 as a sub-base is called biquinary, and is found in Wolof and Khmer. A vigesimal system with 5 as a sub-base is found in Nahuatl and the Maya numerals.
Roman numerals are a biquinary system. The numbers 1, 5, 10, and 50 are written as I, V, X, and L respectively. Eight is VIII and seventy is LXX.
The Chinese and Japanese versions of the abacus use a biquinary system to simulate a decimal system for ease of calculation.
Urnfield culture numerals and some tally mark systems are also biquinary.
[edit] References
- ^ Harald Hammarström, Rarities in Numeral Systems: "Bases 5, 10, and 20 are omnipresent."
- ^ Harris, John (1982), Hargrave, Susanne, ed., “Facts and fallacies of aboriginal number systems”, Work Papers of SIL-AAB Series B 8: 153-181, <http://www1.aiatsis.gov.au/exhibitions/e_access/serial/m0029743_v_a.pdf>
- ^ Dawson, J. "Australian Aborigines: The Languages and Customs of Several Tribes of Aborigines in the Western District of Victoria (1881), p. xcviii.
[edit] See also
[edit] External links
- Quinary Base Conversion, includes fractional part, from Math Is Fun