Page "Numeral system" Paragraph 12

More useful still are systems which employ special abbreviations for repetitions of symbols ; for example, using the first nine letters of the alphabet for these abbreviations, with A standing for " one occurrence ", B " two occurrences ", and so on, one could then write C + D / for the number 304.

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 four "), as are those of other spoken languages, regardless of what written systems they have adopted.

However, many languages use mixtures of bases, and other features, for instance 79 in French is soixante dix-neuf ( 60 + 10 + 9 ) and in Welsh is pedwar ar bymtheg a thrigain ( 4 +( 5 + 10 )+( 3 × 20 )) or ( somewhat archaic ) pedwar ugain namyn un ( 4 × 20 − 1 ).

In English, one could say " four score less one ", as in the famous Gettysburg Address representing 87 as " four score and seven years ago ".