Classical Nahuatl Grammar - Number System

Number System

Classical Nahuatl has a vigesimal or base 20 number system. In the pre-Columbian Nahuatl script, the numbers 20, 400 (20²) and 8,000 (20³) were represented by a flag, a feather, and a bag, respectively.

It also makes use of numeral classifiers, similar to languages such as Chinese and Japanese.

Read more about this topic:  Classical Nahuatl Grammar

Famous quotes containing the words number and/or system:

    He is the greatest artist who has embodied, in the sum of his works, the greatest number of the greatest ideas.
    John Ruskin (1819–1900)

    Fear, coercion, punishment, are the masculine remedies for moral weakness, but statistics show their failure for centuries. Why not change the system and try the education of the moral and intellectual faculties, cheerful surroundings, inspiring influences? Everything in our present system tends to lower the physical vitality, the self-respect, the moral tone, and to harden instead of reforming the criminal.
    Elizabeth Cady Stanton (1815–1902)