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Home , 57 BC, Bengali calendars, Bengali numerals, Calendar year, Indian national calendar, Japanese calendar

The numbers in the World Written by WisardCoin, 2006

Introduction

The present article has been written upon personal experiences, but also with the help of many documents and news found over internet. It is very difficult to mention every written source, since, some times, only few words were taken from a document. If reading these lines, somebody recognize an article or a document written by himself, please notice it to me, and I will be very glad to include the Author’s name in the bibliography of the article.

Understanding numbers and dates

May be you get a coin that you can’t read, since inscriptions are written in a language, and with characters those are not familiar. In example, this especially happens when a guy living in Western Europe, or in America, gets a coin from Middle or Far East, or central Asia. Basically in most of the cases, the two main information about a coin you need to know through the numbers are the date of mint, and the face value. The present article want try to give help in understanding a bit more about these coins, by proposing some conversion tables and some simple explanations about how to read a “mysterious” inscription.

Roman Numbers

0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 50 100 500 1000 I II III IV V VI VII VIII IX X L C D M

In the Roman numeration, it doesn’t exist the number “zero”, and their system was not positional. In Occidental numbers, we only have ten symbols (0123456789) which can give any number however large, although the bigger numbers get quite long. So 1 means one, and 100 means a hundred. The symbol "1" means something different depending if it has any numbers after it. The Romans thought in a different way. One is I, and two is II, and three is III. Five has a different symbol, V. There were different symbols for ten, fifty, hundred, five hundred and thousand.

The Romans combined their symbols, so VII meant 5+1+1 or seven. However, they found that VIIII was too confusing for nine, so they introduced another idea. If the I comes after the V then you add it (VI is 6). But if the I comes before the V then you subtract it (IV is four). The rule is that you are allowed to add up to three (VIII is eight), but only subtract one (IX is nine). You can also do this for larger numbers. MDCCCLXXXVIII is 1000+500+100+100+100+50+10+10+10+5+1+1+1 or 1888 MCMXCIX is M CM XC IX or 1000+(1000-100)+(100-10)+(10-1) or 1999

A general rule to understand how to “divide” a pretty long roman number, is that “A smaller value cannot stand on the left of a bigger value, unless to be subtracted”

The numbers in the World – 2006 by WisardCoin page 1 It seems to be a complicated statement, but it simple means that if you have: MCMXII = 1912, it must be divided as: M CM XII And not, for example: MC M XII Since the second M in this case is following a smaller number….C When we use Roman numbers today, we don't use them for big numbers, so you never see the Roman number for 5000 (and if you don't have that, then you can't write 4000).

Romans did not have symbols for anything higher than 1000, so they could only describe numbers up to 3999. Above this, there were various ways to describe numbers, but no generally agreed way. The most commonly used method for large numbers, is to put a horizontal line over them, which meant to multiply the number by 1,000. Hence the V at left has a line over the top, which means 5,000.

Arabic Numbers

0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 100

Although we use a system we call "," the numbering system in Arabic is different. It is derived from Indian numerals. The system is as follows:

While Arabic letters are written from right-to-left, numbers in Arabic are written from left-to- right.

For example:

Is 1952, and not 2591

How to count the with Arabian

The (or Hijri calendar) is a purely . It contains 12 that are based on the motion of the , and because 12 synodic months is only 12 x 29.53=354.36 days, the Islamic calendar is consistently shorter than a tropical , and therefore it shifts with respect to the Christian calendar.

The numbers in the World – 2006 by WisardCoin page 2 Years are counted since the Hijra, that is, Mohammed's emigration to Medina in AD 622. On 16 July () of that year, AH 1 started (AH = Anno Hegirae = year of the Hijra). In the year AD 2003 we have witnessed the start of Islamic year AH 1424. Note that although only 2003-622=1381 years have passed in the Christian calendar, 1423 years have passed in the Islamic calendar, because its year is consistently shorter (by about 11 days) than the used by the Christian calendar.

An almost simple way to convert a date, from Hijri calendar (AH) to Julian calendar (AD), could be using the following formula:

AD ? 621.461 AH ? or AD = AH x 0.970185 + 621.461 0.970185

This formulas work correctly, but you must take in account of approximations of the numbers, so you may experience some little shifts in calculating the year. In example, if you try to convert the year 2004 AD into AH, you will get:

2004 ? 621.461 AH ? ? 1425.02 ? 1425AH 0.970185

but if you will use the second formula to get back the AD year:

AD = 1425 x 0.970185 + 621.461=2003.97AD

Tibetan Numbers

The alphabet is derived from the ancient Brahmi script - so one can see similarities to the Indian alphabets.

0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

Numbers

Corresponding Names

Tibetan numbers are written left-to-right

How to count the years with

The complicated Tibetan calendar is based on lunar cycles. As the lunar cycle is less than 30 days, and the year is divided into 12 months, tricks are applied to compensate for the difference between the 12 moon cycles in approximately 354 days and the actual 365 - something days of the year. To compensate the discrepancy of 11 days, a `leap' is The numbers in the World – 2006 by WisardCoin page 3 added every few years. The proper w ay to add the leap month was intelligently arranged in Tang Dynasty in the Han , the Tibetan calendars. Now let us discuss the year-count system. Tibetan used the period of sixty years (rab- byung i.e., fire-) as in the Han tradition. Either it came from Indian or it was a later adoption from Han people. In the Tibetan calendar years are named after one of the animals of the Tibetan (, sheep, , bird, , , /mouse, cow/, , hare, , ). Together with this cycle of twelve years is a cycle of ten years in which two subsequent years are indicated with one of five elements (iron, water, wood, fire, earth). These cycles combined give a sixty (12x5) year period of unique combinations of an animal with an element The first year in the Tibetan calendar dates back to the year, 1027. The system of 60 year cycles, Rab-byung, was introduced around the 10 th century.

The Coins from are dated in according to this method, and on the coin you can find the number of the years of the cycle (between 1 to 60) and the number of the cycle itself. To calculate the year in Julian calendar format (AD), you must use the following formula:

(Cycle-1) x 60 + YearOfCycle + 1026

In example, if you find a coins the has the date: 16th Cycle, 20th year, its AD date is:

(16-1) x 60 + 20 + 1026 = 1946AD

On Tibetan coins, you can find the date (Years and Cycles), either written with numbers, or written using letters. Here beside, one example of dating on a coins.

Mongolian Numbers

Mongolian numbers are written either left-to-right, or up to down

0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

Classical Mongolan

Modern Mongolan

The numbers in the World – 2006 by WisardCoin page 4

The Mongolian alphabet was adapted from the Uighur alphabet in the 12th Century. The Uighur alphabet was a derivative of the Sogdian alphabet, which ultimately came from Aramaic Between the 13th and 15th Centuries, Mongolian was also written with Chinese characters, the Arabic and a script derived from Tibetan called Phags-pa. As a result of pressure from the Soviet Union, adopted the Latin Alphabet in 1931 and the Cyrillic Alphabet in 1937. In 1941 the Mongolian government passed a law to abolish the Mongolian alphabet. Since 1994, the Mongolian government has been trying to bring back the Mongolian alphabet and it is starting to be used more widely and is now taught in schools.

In Mongolia is adopted the same calendar of Tibet. The counts of the years is the same already described in the paragraph relevant to Tibetan Numbers.

Nepal Numbers

0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

Nepali numbers are written left-to-right.

Nepal follows a different calendar system than in the West. Nepali Calendar is based on Bikram Sambat and is 56 years 8 months ahead of A.D. The Bikram Sambat calendar was started in 57 B.C. by King Bikramaditya in . According to this system, 2003-2004 is Bikram Sambat 2060. The begins in mid-April. Like the Julian system, there are 12 months, each month beginning around the middle of a Western month.

Myanmar (Formerly Burma) Numbers

Myanmar is a country in Southeast Asia, formerly known as Burma. The name of the country was changed in 1989, and this change of name has been officially recognized by the United Nations. However, some nations, such as the United States and United Kingdom, do not recognize this change of name, since they do not recognize the military government which instituted it. Today, many people use Myanmar, which is a derivative of the Burmese short-form name Myanma Naingngandaw, regardless of their opinion of the military government.

0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

The numbers in the World – 2006 by WisardCoin page 5 In Myanmar, numbers are written left-to-right.

How to count the years with Myanmar calendar

Myanmar calendar is a lunar calendar, just like most other Asians. Dates with Myanmar calendar are called ME (Myanmar Era), and formerly, before 1989, also BE (Burma Era).

BE must not to be confused with Buddhist Era. Actually, Myanmar Era is as same as the Buddhist Era, the calendar system counting since Buddha passed away. However there were 2 major changes in the Myanmar calendar.

Current year in Buddhist Era = 544 + current year in AD.

Two Changes of Myanmar Calendar

1. In the year 624 of Buddhist Era, King Thumondri changed the Myanmar calendar to recount from 2. 2. In the year 562, King Poppar Saw Rahan changed the Myanmar calendar again to recount from 2, which still exists today.

So, if you want to convert the year from Myanmar Era (ME) to Julian Calendar (AD), this is the formula:

if it is before April

ME = AD – 637 and AD = ME + 637

if it is after April

ME = AD – 638 and AD = ME + 638

Thai Numbers ()

0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

Numbers

Corresponding Names

Thai numbers are written left to right. Older coins exhibit Thai numerals only, while newer coins have Thai and Arabic numerals.

The numbers in the World – 2006 by WisardCoin page 6

Thai calendar changed through the years

Until 1888 Thailand used a lunar calendar, in which the date of the New Year (Songkran) was between April 13 and 15. The new calendar, decreed by King Chulalongkorn (Rama V), was called Ratana Kosindra Sok, and was nearly identical with the western . Year counting, however, was in reference of the date of the founding of Bangkok (Ratana Kosindra), April 6, 1782 (the first day of Year 1 Ratana Kosindra Era).

In 1912 King Vajiravudh (Rama VI) changed the year counting to Buddhist Era, and fixed the start of a year to April 1 The months and days of the are the same as those used in the western Gregorian calendar, only their names differ. The year, is counted from the Buddhist Era (B.E.), which is 543 years earlier than the Christian Era (A.D.). For example, 2004 A.D. is equivalent to 2547 B.E. The era is based on the death of , which is dated to 543 BC by the Thai.

In 1941 (2484 B.E.), per decree by Prime Minister Phibunsongkhram, January 1 became the official start of a new year (so year 2483 B.E. had only nine mo nths). When converting a date prior to that year, one should check whether it falls between January 1 and March 31: if so the number to add or subtract is 542, not 543. This is the calendar that is already used nowdays.

So, to convert the date, you should use the following criteria:

BE = AD + 543 and AD = BE - 543

It is important to remember that only from January 1, 1941 onwards does this 543 addition/subtraction rule work perfectly.

The Thai solar, or Suriyakati, calendar is used in traditional and official contexts in Thailand, although the Western calendar is sometimes used in business.

Japanese numbers

There are two types of Japanese characters expressing numerals.

0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 10 100 0 0 Standard

Kanji

The numbers in the World – 2006 by WisardCoin page 7

For each number, there are several different pronunciations depending on the way is used.

Since was heavily influenced by Chinese, for small numbers are identical to Chinese numerals except the difference in pronunciations. For large numbers, the numerals are often different, because of different number syntax.

Note that the Japanese Kanji-type writing (second row) is rarely used when the sentence is written from left to right. When numerals are in a sentence written from top to bottom, they are used occasionally.

Japanese Calendars

The Japanese calendars prior to 1873 were derived from the Chinese

The government, established in 1868 after a lengthy revolution, undertook to modernise the nation by introducing Western ways. This included replacing the old lunar calendar with the Gregorian version in 1872 (5th year of Meiji), which took effect the following year and continues in use today.

Years in the are calculated according to the Era (literally nengo) of reign of a certain emperor. The first year of an emperor's reign begins on his accession to the throne and ends on December 31; thereafter a new year of the reign begins each January 1.

Recent nengo are:

?? Kyowa, 1801–1804 ?? Bunkwa, 1804–1818 ?? Bunsei, 1818–1830 ?? Tempo, 1830–1844 ?? Kokwa, 1844–1848 ?? Kaei, 1848–1854 ?? Ansei, 1854–1860 ?? Man-en, 1860–1861 ?? Bunkyu, 1861–1864 ?? Genji, 1864–1865 ?? Keio, 1865–1868 ?? Meiji (“Enlightened Rule”), 1868–1912 ?? Taisho (“Great Righteousness”), 1912 – 25 December 1926 ?? Showa (“Enlightenment and Harmony”), 25 December 1926 – 7 January 1989 ?? (“Achieving Peace”), 7 January 1989 – to date

The numbers in the World – 2006 by WisardCoin page 8 Here below, the transcriptions of the XX Century nengo

Meiji Taisho Showa Heisei

To convert a Japanese year to a Western year, find the year in the of the first year of the nengo from a table like the one above, subtract 1, and add the number of the Japanese year. For example Showa 23 would be:

1926 - 1 = 1925

Then

1925 + 23 = 1948 AD

Chinese numbers

There are different ways to write a number in Chinese:

0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 10 100 1000 0 0 0 Traditional

Simplified

Formal Traditional Simplified Traditional

While has for many uses adopted the Arabic familiar around the world, it also still uses its native Chinese character number system. The Chinese system is also a base-10 system, but has important differences in the way the numbers are represented. Chinese has characters for numbers 0 through 9, as seen above. In addition to the character shown above for zero, a simple circle is also used Eleven in Chinese is "ten one". Twelve is "ten two", and so on. Twenty is "Two ten", twenty-one is "two ten one" (2*10 + 1), and so on up to 99. One-hundred is "one hundred". One-hundred and one is "one hundred zero one". One hundred and eleven is "one hundred one ten one". Notice that for eleven alone, you only need "ten one" and not "one ten one", but when used in a larger number (such as 111 ), you must add the extra "one". One thousand and above is done in a similar fashion, where you say how many thousands

The numbers in the World – 2006 by WisardCoin page 9 you have, then how many hundreds, tens, and ones. An exception to this is for zeroes. When a zero occurs in the number (except at the end ), you need to say "zero", but only once for two or more consecutive zeroes. So one-thousand and one would be "one thousand zero one", where zero stands in for the hundreds and tens places.

Few examples:

= 20 = 25

= 50 = 200

Chinese Calendars

Before it officially adopted the Gregorian calendar in 1912, China had a , used in official records since at least the 10th century BC, and consisted of 12 months each of 29 or 30 days. This calendar was a sexagenary (60-year cycle calendar). There is no specific initial for counting years. In historical records, dates were specified by counts of days and years in sexagenary cycles and by counts of years from a succession of eras established by reigning monarchs.

Korean numbers

Koreans use 2 different sets of cardinal numbers, depending on the situation: Korean (or Pure-Korean) numbers and Chinese (or Sino-Korean) numbers.

- Korean or Pure-Korean forms

The Korean forms are used for the number of items (1-99) and age: 2 children, 5 bottle of beer, 27 years old.

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9

10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90

The numbers in the World – 2006 by WisardCoin page 10 To put together numbers like "17" or "35" you just write the tens number followed by the ones number. Thus,

17 = 35 =

- Chinese or Sino-Korean forms

Although they usually use Arabic numerals, sometimes Chinese characters are used for prices The Chinese forms are used for dates, money, addresses, phone numbers, and numbers above 100.

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9

10 100 1000 10000 Putting together Sino-Korean numbers is a piece of cake. Split up the number into its place values and tack them together.

In example, 495 is written as:

4x100 + 9x10 + 5

As most Asian counting systems, Korean system is based on increments of 10,000 rather than 1,000. For example, the number 100,000 is represented by "10 ten -thousands" rather than "100 thousands." As can be imagined, this causes much confusion for everyone when converting numbers between Korean and other languages. If you have any doubt, verify large numbers in writing (or on a calculator) and check the number of digits.

Korean Calendars

In the past, adopted a combination of Solar & Lunar calendars. Although this combination lunar-cum- was officially replaced by the Gregorian one in 1895, many calendars sold in Korea indicate the lunar dates and the Solar Terms as well as the Gregorian date.

The numbers in the World – 2006 by WisardCoin page 11 Bengali numbers

Bengali script was originally devised to write , but nowadays is used to write Assamese, Manipuri, Munda, Bengali and other East Indian languages.

It runs from left to right

0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

Note: In some Pakistan Banknotes issued in the mid of XX Century, the denomination appears in Bengali numerals at the top left and bottom right, in Urdu at the top right and as a Western numeral at the bottom left.

Bengali Calendars

The Bengali Era or Bangabda is used in , West a nd . It is also used in where it is called the Bhaskar () Era, The era is an adaptation of the solar calendar that was introduced by Emperor in 1584 AD.

Bengal adopted Akbar's calendar with certain modifications. In 1556 AD, the Beng ali calendar was assigned the year 963 to coincide with the year in Hijri era which today reads 1418. It is 1405 in the Bengali year. If we recall that a solar year is about 11 days longer than the lunar year, it is not difficult to figure out why the Hijri era has marched ahead by: [11 X (2004 - 1556)] days = 13 years in the 448 years since 1556 AD.

Ethiopian numbers

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9

The Ethiopian numeral system was devised following the ancient Greek method of modifying existing members from the character set for the spoken language. The number “zero” is not used. The Ethiopian numerals are not commonly used today for more than giving calendar years. With 1987 as both a unitless number and as a year for an example, we can demonstrate the arrangement of the numerals required to construct each.

The Number 1987 : 1987 = 1,000 + 9x(100) + 80 + 07 The Year 1987 : 1987 = 19x(100) + 80 + 07 = (10+9)x(100) + 80 + 07

The numbers in the World – 2006 by WisardCoin page 12

Ethiopia has its own ancient calendar. According to the beliefs of the Ethiopian Ortho dox Church, God created the world 5500 years before the birth of Christ. According to the Ethiopian calendar, it is 1994 years since Jesus was born. Based on this timeline, year 2000 in the Gregorian calendar corresponds to year 7494 of the eighth millennium. The Ethiopian Calendar has more in common with the Coptic . The Ethiopic and Coptic calendars have 13 months, 12 of 30 days each and an intercalary month at the end of the year of 5 or 6 days depending whether the year is a or not.

Indian numbers

Numerals systems in India were in continuos evolution, so they have changed several times through the Centuries. We should also note that the Indian number systems are almost exclusively base 10, as opposed to the Babylonian base 60 systems. came into being around the middle of the third century BC. These Brahmi numerals were not just symbols for the numbers between 1 and 9, but there were also symbols for 10, 100, 1000, ... as well as 20, 30, 40, ... , 90 and 200, 300, 400, ..., 900.

The Brahmi numerals have been found in inscriptions in caves and on coins in regions near Poona, Bombay, and Uttar Pradesh. Dating these numerals tells us that they were in use over quite a long time span up to the 4th century AD. Of course different inscriptions differ somewhat in the style of the symbols.

Brahmi Numerals around 1st Century A.D.

If we examine the route which led from the Brahmi numerals to our present symbols (and ignore the many other systems which evolved from the Brahmi numerals) then we next

The numbers in the World – 2006 by WisardCoin page 13 come to the Gupta symbols. The Gupta period is that during which the Gupta dynasty ruled over the state in northeastern India, and this was from the early 4th century AD to the late AD. The Gupta numerals developed from the Brahmi numerals and were spread over large areas by the as they conquered territory.

Gupta Numerals around 4th Century A.D.

The Gupta numerals evolved into the Nagari numerals, sometimes called the . This form evolved from the Gupta numerals beginning around the 7th century AD and continued to develop from the 11th century onward.

Nagari (Devangari) Numerals around 11th Century A.D.

Today these numerals are used in all Indian languages that use the Devanagari script.

Indian calendar

According to the Hindu Saka Calendar, we enter 1922 this year. This calendar was developed during the Saka Era in 78 AD. The Saka calendar which is based on the Hindu Astronomy of the holy Vedas is a lunar calendar unlike the Gregorian Solar Calendar. And a section of in India and Indonesia follow it even today. follows the Saka System

Hebrew numbers

The Hebrew alphabet & numbers are read from right to left.

The Hebrew system does not use the number as we know as zero. Since they do not use zero, they had to write thousand , million, ect... as a word. They use letters from their alphabet to represent numbers (like the Romans). The first nine letters were the numbers 1 through 9. The second nine letters were used for the ten's position.

The numbers in the World – 2006 by WisardCoin page 14 The third set of nine letters were used for the hundred's position.

The fourth set of nine letters were used for the thousand's although there were not enough letters for some numbers the Hebrews added "archaic" or special numbers.

The final forms of the letters kaf, mem, nun, pe, and tzadi were not used in Hebrew numbers originally, but in later years they were added to represent the values 500, 600, 700, 800, and 900.

Thousands are represented by the same letters as the unit values, sometimes a character similar to an apostrophe is appended. The character is a punctuation mark called geresh. ( ‘ )

This system of numbers could be confusing because regular words could be turned into numbers by adding the values of each letter together. They practiced this a lot with the many names in the Bible. This procedure was called "gematria".

Numbers are usually formed by choosing the hebrew letter with the largest value that doesn't exceed the number and then selecting the next largest valued letter that reduces the remainder. For example, to represent 765, the largest valued letter is tav (400) leaving a remainder of 365. Adding the letter shin (300) leaves 65. Adding somekh (60) and he (5) eliminate the remainder. So 765 is represented by tav, shin, somekh, he. Remember, it must be wrote from right to left.

There is one exception. Numbers ending in 15 or 16 would be written as (10+5) and (10+6), but the letters so combined spell out the name of God and for religious reasons are not used. Instead, by convention, (9+6) and (9+7) are always used. Other exceptions are for some numbers those spell out a word with strongly negative or positive connotations. In these cases, the order of the letters might be changed.

The numbers in the World – 2006 by WisardCoin page 15

The

The Hebew Calendar is a mixed solar/lunar calendar with years coinciding with the solar year whilst months are lunar. A year varies between 353 and 385 days and begins on the day of the new moon. The year may have 12 or 13 month s. Years are counted since “”, the creation of the world, which is assumed to have occurred in 3761BC.

The Hebrew calendar year begins on Rosh Hashanah which generally occurs during the month of or October. Since the Hebrew calendar do es not begin on January 1 nor end on December 31, the Hebrew year will span two Gregorian years. (Or conversely, the Gregorian year will span two Hebrew calendar years.) For example, the year 2004 will span the Hebrew calendar years 5764-5765. The year 5764 began on the eve of September 26, 2003 and ends on September 14, 2004. On September 15, 2004 the year 5765 begins.

The year 2004 in the Gregorian calendar is (for most of the year) the year 5764 in the Hebrew calendar. The 5000 is generally dropped on c alendars and so the year is written as 764. The year 2005 is written 765. This form of representation for years is also used for copyright dates.

Definitively, in order to better read and understand Hebrew coins and notes, the below conversion table showing Hebrew dates can be helpful.

The numbers in the World – 2006 by WisardCoin page 16