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Chinese numerals are words and characters used to denote numbers in written Chinese. Today, speakers of Chinese languages use three written numeral systems: the system of Arabic numerals used worldwide, and two indigenous systems. The more familiar indigenous system is based on Chinese characters that correspond to numerals in the spoken language.
In traditional Chinese history and other Chinese dialect groups like the Teochew people, the number 4 is considered a very lucky and auspicious number. For starters, it is an even number. There is a preference of even numbers over odd numbers. Many historical and philosophical Chinese concepts are also in groups of 4. [7] [8]
At the same time, standard Chinese numerals were used in formal writing, akin to spelling out the numbers in English. Suzhou numerals were once popular in Chinese marketplaces, such as those in Hong Kong and Chinese restaurants in Malaysia before the 1990s, but they have gradually been supplanted by Hindu numerals.
Using all numbers and all letters except I and O; the smallest base where 1 / 2 terminates and all of 1 / 2 to 1 / 18 have periods of 4 or shorter. 35: Covers the ten decimal digits and all letters of the English alphabet, apart from not distinguishing 0 from O. 36: Hexatrigesimal [57] [58]
This system is used when writing Chinese numerals and other East Asian numerals based on Chinese. The number system of the English language is of this type ("three hundred [and] four"), as are those of other spoken languages, regardless of what written systems they have adopted.
a common sign for the number one. Chinese number gestures are a method to signify the natural numbers one through ten using one hand. This method may have been developed to bridge the many varieties of Chinese—for example, the numbers 4 (Chinese: 四; pinyin: sì) and 10 (Chinese: 十; pinyin: shí) are hard to distinguish in some dialects.
Other languages had an indigenous system but borrowed a second set of numerals anyway. An example is Japanese, which uses either native or Chinese-derived numerals depending on what is being counted. In many languages, such as Chinese, numerals require the use of numeral classifiers. Many sign languages, such as ASL, incorporate numerals.
As with Chinese numerals, there exists in Japanese a separate set of kanji for numerals called daiji (大字) used in legal and financial documents to prevent unscrupulous individuals from adding a stroke or two, turning a one into a two or a three. The formal numbers are identical to the Chinese formal numbers except for minor stroke variations.