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 "Arabic numerals," 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 years with Arabian calendar The Islamic calendar (or Hijri calendar) is a purely lunar calendar. It contains 12 months that are based on the motion of the moon, and because 12 synodic months is only 12 x 29.53=354.36 days, the Islamic calendar is consistently shorter than a tropical year, 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 (Julian calendar) 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 tropical year 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 decimal 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 Tibetan 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 Tibetan calendar 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' month 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 calendars, the Tibetan calendars. Now let us discuss the year-count system. Tibetan used the period of sixty years (rab- byung i.e., fire-rabbit) 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 zodiac (horse, sheep, monkey, bird, dog, pig, rat/mouse, cow/ox, tiger, hare, dragon, snake). 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 Kalachakra year, 1027. The system of 60 year cycles, Rab-byung, was introduced around the 10 th century. The Coins from Tibet 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, Mongolia 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.