Search results
Results From The WOW.Com Content Network
Cardinal versus ordinal numbers. In linguistics, ordinal numerals or ordinal number words are words representing position or rank in a sequential order; the order may be of size, importance, chronology, and so on (e.g., "third", "tertiary"). They differ from cardinal numerals, which represent quantity (e.g., "three") and other types of numerals.
In set theory, an ordinal number, or ordinal, is a generalization of ordinal numerals (first, second, n th, etc.) aimed to extend enumeration to infinite sets. [ 1] A finite set can be enumerated by successively labeling each element with the least natural number that has not been previously used.
Numbers used to denote the denominator of a fraction are known linguistically as "partitive numerals". In spoken English, ordinal numerals and partitive numerals are identical with a few exceptions. Thus "fifth" can mean the element between fourth and sixth, or the fraction created by dividing the unit into five pieces.
Main article: list of numeral systems. Decimal: The standard Hindu–Arabic numeral system using base ten. Binary: The base-two numeral system used by computers, with digits 0 and 1. Ternary: The base-three numeral system with 0, 1, and 2 as digits. Quaternary: The base-four numeral system with 0, 1, 2, and 3 as digits.
In written languages, an ordinal indicator is a character, or group of characters, following a numeral denoting that it is an ordinal number, rather than a cardinal number. In English orthography, this corresponds to the suffixes ‑st, ‑nd, ‑rd, ‑th in written ordinals (represented either on the line 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th or as superscript ...
The ordinal catgegory are based on ordinal numbers such as the English first, second, third, which specify position of items in a sequence. In Latin and Greek, the ordinal forms are also used for fractions for amounts higher than 2; only the fraction 1 / 2 has special forms.
For the mathematical notation of numbers, see numeral system. In linguistics, a numeral in the broadest sense is a word or phrase that describes a numerical quantity. Some theories of grammar use the word "numeral" to refer to cardinal numbers that act as a determiner that specify the quantity of a noun, for example the "two" in "two hats".
In mathematics, even and odd ordinals extend the concept of parity from the natural numbers to the ordinal numbers. They are useful in some transfinite induction proofs . The literature contains a few equivalent definitions of the parity of an ordinal α: Every limit ordinal (including 0) is even. The successor of an even ordinal is odd, and ...