Today, speakers of Chinese use three numeral systems: the ubiquitous system of Arabic numerals, along with two ancient Chinese numeral systems. The huama (Chinese: 花碼; pinyin: huāmǎ; U+82B1, U+78BC; lit. "flowery or fancy numbers") system has gradually been supplanted by the Arabic system in writing numbers. The character system is still used and roughly analogous to writing out a number in text. A numeral is a symbol or group of symbols that represents a number. ... Arabic numerals (also called Hindu numerals or Indian numerals ) are the most common set of symbols used to represent numbers. ... Pinyin (拼音, pīnyīn) literally means join (together) sounds (a less literal translation being phoneticize, spell or transcription) in Chinese and usually refers to Hànyǔ Pīnyīn (汉语拼音, literal meaning: Han language pinyin), which is a system of romanization (phonetic notation and transliteration to roman script) for Standard Mandarin used in the...

The huama system, the only surviving variation of the rod numeral system, is nowadays in use only in Chinese markets (e.g. in Hong Kong). The character writing system is still in use when writing numbers in long form such as on cheques, as their complexity thwarts forgery. The counting rods (籌 chou2) were used by ancient Chinese before the invention of the abacus. ...

Individual Chinese characters mentioned in this article can be looked up graphically in the Unihan database by using the following access URL: http://www.unicode.org/cgi-bin/GetUnihanData.pl?codepoint=UUUU, where UUUU is the Unicode code point. e.g. use 82B1 for 'huā'. Technical note: Due to technical limitations, some web browsers may not display some special characters in this article. ... In computing, Unicode is the international standard whose goal is to provide the means to encode the text of every document people want to store in computers. ...

Written numbers

The Chinese character numeral system consists of the Chinese characters used by the Chinese written language to write spoken numerals. Similarly to spelled-out numbers in English (e.g., "one thousand nine hundred forty-five"), it is not an independent system per se. And since it reflects spoken language, it does not use the positional system as is done in Arabic numerals, in the same way that spelling out numbers in English does not. 漢字 hànzì, kanji… in Traditional Chinese and other languages. ... Various styles of Chinese calligraphy. ... Arabic numerals (also called Hindu numerals or Hindu-Arabic numerals) are by far the most common form of symbolism used to represent numbers. ...

Numeral characters

There are ten characters representing the numbers zero through nine, and other characters representing larger numbers such as tens, hundreds, thousands and so on. There are two sets of characters for Chinese numerals: one for everyday writing and one for use in commercial or financial contexts. The latter arose because the characters used for writing numerals are geometrically simple, so simply using those numerals cannot prevent forgeries in the same way spelling numbers out in English would.

S denotes Simplified, T denotes Traditional.

1. 么 (yāo), "the smallest", is used widely in mainland China as a replacement for yī in series of digits such as phone numbers, room numbers, et cetera, to prevent confusion between similar sounding words. It is never used in counting, nor is it used in Taiwan (except for soldiers in the ROC military) or Hong Kong and Macau (except when communicating in Standard Mandarin).

Ten million (10 000 000) is ten thousand thousand, or 107. ... Hundred million (100 000 000) is hundred thousand thousand, or 108. ... 1 E24 (1024) is the scientific notation for a quadrillion in traditional European usage. ... To help compare orders of magnitude this page lists dimensionless numbers between 109 and 1012. ... To help compare orders of magnitude this page lists dimensionless numbers between 1012 and 1015: See also Orders of magnitude (numbers) Categories: Stub | Orders of magnitude (numbers) ... In mathematics, arithmetic or plain old numbers a tenth is one part of a unit or one divided equally into ten parts. ... Deci (symbol d) is a prefix in the SI system of units denoting a factor of 10−1 (1/10). ... In mathematics or arithmetic, a hundredth is one part of a unit or one divided equally into one hundred parts. ... Centi (symbol c) is a SI prefix in the SI system of units denoting a factor of 10-2, or 1/100. ... Milli (symbol m) is a SI prefix in the SI system of units denoting a factor of 10-3, or 1/1,000. ... Micro is a SI prefix in the SI system of units denoting a factor of 10−6 (one millionth). ... In this map of China, the light-coloured areas represent Mainland China, while yellow coloured area refers to Taiwan. ... A Norwegian soldier (a Corporal, armed with an MP-5) A soldier is a person who has enlisted with, or has been conscripted into, the armed forces of a sovereign country and has undergone training and received equipment to defend that country or its interests. ... The Republic of China (ROC) maintains a large military establishment, which will account for 16. ... Standard Mandarin refers to the official Chinese spoken language used by the Peoples Republic of China, the Republic of China on Taiwan, Malaysia and Singapore. ...

Constructing numbers

Multiple-digit numbers are constructed using a multiplicative principle; first the digit itself (from 1 to 9), then the place (such as 10 or 100); then the next digit.
In Mandarin, for numbers with 2 greater than 200, the multiplier 两 (liǎng) rather than 二 (èr) is used. While speaking in Cantonese or writing in a Cantonese culture, 二 (yi⁶) is used in all cases. Also, in the southern Min dialect of Chaozhou (Teochew), 两 (no⁶) is used in all cases. Thus:

For the numbers 11 through 19, the leading "one" (一) is omitted. In some dialects, when there are only two significant digits in the number, the leading "one" and the trailing zeroes are omitted – but this is grammatically incorrect. Sometimes, the one before "ten" in the middle of a number, such as 213, is omitted; this too is grammatically incorrect. Thus: The Teochew dialect (Diō-jiu-oē, Chinese:潮州话, Hanyu Pinyin: Cháozhōuhuà, Teochiu or Tiuchiu), is a Chinese language and dialect of Minnan spoken in a region of eastern Guangdong refered to as Chaoshan. ...

In certain older texts like the Protestant Bible or in poetic usage, numbers such as 114 may be written as [100] [10] [4] (百十四). Protestantism is a general grouping of denominations within Christianity. ... The holy jewish scripture: The Torah. ...

For numbers larger than a myriad, the same grouping system used in English applies, except in groups of four places (myriads) rather than in groups of three (thousands). Hence it is more convenient to think of numbers here as in groups of four, thus 1,234,567,890 is regrouped here as 12,3456,7890. Larger than a myriad, each number is therefore four zeroes longer than the one before it, thus 10000 × wàn (万) = yì (亿), 10000 × yì (亿) = zhào (兆). If one of the numbers is between 10 and 19, the leading "one" is omitted as per the above point. Hence (numbers in parentheses indicate that the number has been written as one number rather than expanded): Myriad is a classical Greek name for the number 104 = 10 000, or a group of 10 000 people, etc. ...

Interior zeroes before the unit position (as in 1002) must be spelt explicitly. The reason for this is that trailing zeroes (as in 1200) are often omitted as shorthand, so ambiguity occurs. One zero is sufficient to resolve the ambiguity. Where the zero is before a digit other than the units digit, the explicit zero is not ambiguous and is therefore optional, but preferred. Thus:

Large number systems

For numeral characters greater than 万 (wàn), there have been four systems in ancient and modern usage:

In modern Chinese, only the second system is used in expressing numbers. Although these is some dispute on the value of 兆 (zhào), the usage is generally consistent through Chinese communities, as well as in Japan. However, most people do not recognize numerals beyond 兆 (zhào) (10¹²) and dictionary definitions on these larger number words may not be consistent. In algebra, the square of x is written x2 and is defined as the product of x with itself: x × x. ...

SI prefixes

The definition of 兆 (zhào) = 10⁶ survived in a translation for the SI prefix mega, since there will be no single numeral for that value otherwise. That has caused much confusion. An SI prefix is a prefix which can be applied to any unit of the International System of Units (SI) to give subdivisions and multiples of that unit. ... Mega (symbol M) is a SI prefix in the SI system of units denoting a factor of 106, i. ...

Further complicating the matter, an early attempt to translate SI prefixes used larger, rarer numerals for larger multiples, such as 京 (jīng) for giga, and rarer fractional numerals for smaller fractions, such as 纖 (xiān) for nano, creating even more values for each numeral. Giga (symbol: G) is a prefix in the SI system of units denoting 109, or 1 000 000 000. ... Nano is also a text editor; see Nano (text editor) Nano is a prefix (symbol n) in the SI system of units denoting a factor of 10-9. ...

Today, both the governments of the People's Republic of China (Mainland China, Hong Kong and Macau) and Republic of China (Taiwan) have adopted standards that use phonetic transliterations for the prefixes. However, there are differences in the choices of characters, and the definition of 兆 (zhào) is different between the two standards. The following table lists the two different systems together with the early translation. The Republic of China (Traditional Chinese: 中華民國; Simplified Chinese: 中华民国; Wade-Giles: Chung-hua Min-kuo, Tongyong Pinyin: JhongHuá MínGuó, Hanyu Pinyin: Zhōnghuá Mínguó, Taiwanese POJ: Tiong-hoâ Bîn-kok) is a multiparty democratic state that is effectively composed of the island groups of Taiwan, the Pescadores, Quemoy...

Yotta (symbol Y) is a SI prefix in the SI system of units denoting 1024 or 1 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000. ... Zetta (symbol Z) is a SI prefix in the SI system of units denoting 1021 or 1 000 000 000 000 000 000 000. ... Exa (symbol E) is a prefix in the SI system of units denoting 1018 or 1 000 000 000 000 000 000. ... This article describes the SI prefix peta. ... Tera (symbol: T) is a prefix in the SI system of units denoting 1012, or 1 000 000 000 000. ... Giga (symbol: G) is a prefix in the SI system of units denoting 109, or 1 000 000 000. ... Mega (symbol M) is a SI prefix in the SI system of units denoting a factor of 106, i. ... Kilo (symbol: k) is a prefix in the SI system denoting 103 or 1,000. ... Hecta- is a Greek (language) prefix meaning one hundred. ... What is DECA? DECA, or Distributive Education Clubs of America*, is a business-marketing club that strives to educate its members about business and marketing strategies and decisions. ... Deci (symbol d) is a prefix in the SI system of units denoting a factor of 10−1 (1/10). ... Centi (symbol c) is a SI prefix in the SI system of units denoting a factor of 10-2, or 1/100. ... Milli (symbol m) is a SI prefix in the SI system of units denoting a factor of 10-3, or 1/1,000. ... Micro is a SI prefix in the SI system of units denoting a factor of 10−6 (one millionth). ... Nano is also a text editor; see Nano (text editor) Nano is a prefix (symbol n) in the SI system of units denoting a factor of 10-9. ... For other meanings of Pico see Pico (disambiguation) Pico (symbol p) is a prefix in the SI system of units denoting a factor of 10-12. ... Femto is a prefix (see all prefixes) to a unit and means that it is 10-15 times this unit, or, one quindecillionth (European) or one quadrillionth (American). ... Atto- (symbol a) is an SI prefix to a unit and means that it is 10-18 times this unit. ... Zepto (symbol z) is a prefix in the SI system of units denoting a factor of 10-21. ... Yocto (symbol y) is a SI prefix in the SI system of units denoting a factor of 10-24. ...

Suzhou (蘇州) or huama (花碼) numerals

Just like Ancient Englishman used the Roman numerals for doing mathematics or commerce, Ancient Chinese used the rod numerals which is a positional system. The "Hua1 Ma3" system is a variation of the rod numeral system. Rod numerals are closely related to the counting rods and the abacus, which is why the numeric symbols for 1, 2, 3, 6, 7 and 8 in "Hua1 Ma3" system are represented in a similar way as on the abacus. The counting rods (籌 chou2) were used by ancient Chinese before the invention of the abacus. ... The counting rods (籌 chou2) were used by ancient Chinese before the invention of the abacus. ... An abacus is a calculation tool, often constructed as a wooden frame with beads sliding on wires. ...

Nowadays, the huama system is only used for displaying prices in Chinese markets or on traditional handwritten invoices. According to the Unicode standard version 3.0, these characters are called Hangzhou style numerals. This indicates that it is not used only by Cantonese in Hong Kong. In the Unicode standard 4.0, an erratum was added which stated: In computing, Unicode is the international standard whose goal is to provide the means to encode the text of every document people want to store in computers. ... Hangzhou (Chinese: 杭州; pinyin: ; Wade-Giles: Hang-chou) is a sub-provincial city in China, and the capital of Zhejiang province. ...

The Suzhou numerals (Chinese su1 zhou1 ma3 zi) are special numeric forms used by traders to display the prices of goods. The use of "HANGZHOU" in the names is a misnomer.

The misnomer remains in the Unicode standard. Suzhou (Simplified Chinese: 苏州; Traditional Chinese: 蘇州; pinyin: ; Wade-Giles: Su-chou; sometimes seen transliterated as Su-chow, Suchow, or Soochow) is one of the most famous cities in China. ...

In the huama system, special symbols are used for digits instead of the Chinese characters. The digits are positional. When written horizontally, the numerical value is written in two rows. For example:

The top row contains the numeric symbols, for example, XO||= (〤〇〢二) or XO=|| stands for 4022. The bottom row consists of one or more Chinese characters that represents the unit of the first digit in the first row. The first part in the bottom row indicates the order of the first digit in the top row, e.g. qian1 (千) for thousand, bai3 (百) for hundred, shi2 (拾) for ten, blank for one etc. The second part denotes the unit of measurement, such as yuán (元 U+5143 for dollar) or mao2 (毫 U+4EB3 or 毛 U+6BDB for 10 cents) or xiān (仙 U+4ED9 for 1 cent) or lǐ (里 U+91CC for Chinese mile) or any other measurement unit. If the characters 'shí yuán' (拾元 or 10 dollars) are below the digits XO||=, it is then read as forty dollars and twenty two cents. Notice that the decimal point is implicit when the first digit '4' is set at the 'ten' position. This is very similar to the modern scientific notation for floating point numbers where the significant digits are represented in the mantissa and the order of magnitude is specified in the exponent. Scientific notation is a convenient way to write very large and very small numbers. ... A floating-point number is a digital representation for a number in a certain subset of the rational numbers, and is often used to approximate an arbitrary real number on a computer. ...

When written vertically, the above example is written thus:

The digits of the Suzhou numerals are defined between U+3021 and U+3029 in Unicode. In computing, Unicode is the international standard whose goal is to provide the means to encode the text of every document people want to store in computers. ...

Zero is represented by a circle, probably numeral '0', letter 'O' or character U+3007 may work well. Leading and trailing zeros are unnecessary in this system. Additional characters representing 10, 20, 30 and 40 are encoded as U+5341 (十), U+5344 (卄), U+5345 (卅), U+534C (卌) respectively.

For those who cannot see the Unicode glyphs in the web browser, here are the descriptions of the appearance of these digits:

• 0 is a circle (exact Unicode unknown, perhaps 〇 U+3007)
• 1 is one horizontal (一 U+4E00) or vertical (〡 U+3021) stroke
• 2 is two horizontal (二 U+4E8C) or vertical (〢 U+3022) strokes
• 3 is three horizontal (三 U+4E09) or vertical (〣 U+3023) strokes
• 4 is a cross that looks like X (〤 U+3024)
• 5 is a loop (〥 U+3025)
• 6 is a dot (signify 5 the same way as on an abacus) on top of one horizontal stroke (〦 U+3026)
• 7 is a dot on top of two horizontal strokes (〧 U+3027)
• 8 is a dot on top of three horizontal strokes (〨 U+3028)
• 9 is a dot on top of a variant of the 〤 (4) symbol (〩 U+3029); this symbol looks like the Chinese character for "jiu3 (久 U+4E45)", compare to the formal character '9' "jiu3 (玖 U+7396)". (Some web browsers, e.g. IE 5.5, display this character incorrectly as the "fan3 wen2", or reverse "wen2" radical (夂 & 攵 & 夊 & 文), click here to see the correct graphic glyph.)

The digits 1 to 3 come in the vertical and horizontal version so that they can alternate if these digits are next to each other. The first digit usually use the vertical version. e.g. 21 is written as ||— instead of || | which can be confused with 3.

Hand gestures

Main article at: Chinese number gestures. Chinese number gestures refers to the Chinese method of using of one hand to signify the numbers one through ten. ...

There is a common method of using of one hand to signify the numbers one through ten. While the five digits on one hand can express the numbers one through five, six through ten have special signs that can be used in commerce or day-to-day communication.

Miscellaneous

During Ming and Qing dynasties (when Arabic numerals were first introduced into China), some Chinese mathematicians used Chinese numeral characters as positional system digits. After Qing dynasty, both the Chinese numeral characters and the Suzhou numerals were replaced by Arabic numerals in mathematical writings. This article needs to be cleaned up to conform to a higher standard of quality. ... The Qing Dynasty (Manchu: daicing gurun; Chinese: 清朝; pinyin: qīng cháo; Wade-Giles: ching chao), sometimes known as the Manchu Dynasty, was founded by the Manchu clan Aisin Gioro, in what is today northeast China expanded into China proper and the surrounding territories of Inner Asia, establishing... Arabic numerals (also called Hindu numerals or Indian numerals ) are the most common set of symbols used to represent numbers. ... Arabic numerals (also called Hindu numerals or Indian numerals ) are the most common set of symbols used to represent numbers. ...

Traditional Chinese numeric characters are recognized and used in Japan where they are used in much the same formal or decorative fashion that Roman Numerals are in Western cultures. In Japan, Chinese numerals often appear on the same signs or documents as the more commonly used Western style numbers.

See also

• Heavenly Stems
• Earthly Branches

The ten heavenly stems (Chinese: 天干; pinyin: ) or ten stems (Chinese: 十干; pinyin: ) are an ancient Chinese cyclic numeral system. ... The Earthly Branches (Chinese: 地支; pinyin: Dìzhī) is an ancient Chinese numeral system now uncommon, except when used in conjunction with the Heavenly Stems in the traditional calendar and Taoism. ...

External links

• Unicode reference glyphs showing the Suzhou numerals
• Chinese Numbers Convert between English and Chinese numbers