New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1903-05-29

million Csx ciphers) has two groups, billion
Cnine ciphers) three groups, trillion twelve
cfphers) four groups etc
The English notation seems. at first sight, TO
be more logical. II appears 10 follow the natural
course Of numbers in exhaUsting the numeration
obtained from the previous steps before reaching
the next. Thus, ten tens hundred, a thou-
sand thousands a million, million millions
are billion IT fails, however, IN TWO Hnpol laI
links in the chain. for hundred hundreds III
that should logically be thousand, ana a
billion billions trion. It is also defective IN
two other respects The usual punctuation IS
meaningless. To be appropriate. it should be IN
skies instead OF in threes- 1t Is impossible TO
name any high number by the English notation
without considerable inspection OF the hSufes
embraced.
/ A method that would combine both the sys-
TENS into one. not only Kidding US Of all DOUBT
on the subject, but getting over the defects IN
each. is very desirable make the suggestion
OF the following one for that purpose. By IL me
Specifications of billion. trillion tetymoloSlcaiy
a billion is two millions, and a trillion three
millionSl etc. would become CryStalliZed, ana
the better known and more commonly USED terms
of ten, hundred, thousand and million left IN
changed The only alterations are the fntfoduc-
ton into the Technology OF the word myriad Gn
its original Of ten thousand) and the
punctuation of the figures by fours, instead Of
by threes.
An example will best explain Let us take for
the purpose the number of seconds Of time that
have elapsed in the worlds history up TO me
present. according to the Bible chronology,
which is denoted by q of twelve figure
or. better still, the number Of permutatonS IN
the ordinary pack Of fifty-tvo playing cards IN
sets of thirteen cards, which IS Represented
by a of twenty-five figures. rms Ialter
number. with the usual punetuatlon, IS as .2 3
French notation is three seNtillions, nine nun
dred and ffty-four quintilliOns, two hundred
and forty-two quadrillions, six hundred ana
forty-three trillions. nine hundred and eleven
billions. hundred and thirty-nlne mllllohS
six hundred and eighty thousand The same
number in the English notation Is three thou-
sand nine hundred and f1fty-four trilions, two
hundred and fortY-two thousand SIX hundred
and forty-three billions, nine hundred ana
alo VIC hundred
nine millions. six hundred and eighty thousand
Both take the same number of words 10 eH-
press In the proposed new way the nunner
would he punCtuated follows: 395424,2643.-
9112 1868 00aO and be nOtated ''thirty-nine Quin-
tillions five thousand four hundred and twenty
four quadrillions, two thousand six hundred and
fortH-three trillions. nine thousand one nun
dred and twelve billions. three thousand nine
hundred and siXty-eight myriads- II the last
four figures were 1921 instead of being Ciphers,
the continuation of the notation would be four
thousand three hundred and twenty one.' in the
ordinary way.
The main difficulty in reading a large num-
Der from figures is the ascertainlng Of the cor
left once they are understood the rest fol
lows easily and naturally The present group
ing gives no direct indication. in either the
French English system, Of what these CHAR
acters are. whereas in the proposed new way
they are identified at once by the following
rule The groups to the right name the figures
to the left Thus in the latter punctuated eX-
ample there being five groups cut off, the first
figures to the left 500 are quintiiIons. If there
septillions. three groups trilllons' ana SO on
Nothing can he simpler. BY il any row OF hg-
ures may he tackled and named at once, with
out hesitation. even If met with for the hrSt
time in paper publicly read out
There are several additional advantages in
this proposed system. In the first place, by the
punctuation in tours the number of characters
contained in large numbers can be much more
RAPIDLY ascertained as will be seen by reference
to the two examples above. Next. it embraces
thousands by single numbers, as well as hun
dredS and tens, in naming ;he higher steps
And the notation takes a rather less number Of
words to express.
1t is true that il the English system adopted
the punctuation by SKIES. some or It's deIe'J
would be overcome. But to be OF assistance -
the eye lamentations main province, six HE-
ures in each step is too long an interval What
is gained in the rapid reaching Of the slEnil-
canoe Of the first figures is lost in the con-
fusion within the steps themselves The proper
concentration for the English system would be
1854 L24o CAB 81 ,239:GS00 900. using senicolOns
s well commas, but that method at once
stands condemned. because where several num-
bers occur together there would be confusion,
especially in technical works. No punctuation,
however would ever get the confused i'm
preston carried to the mind in the notation
CWhen unasslsted by the ngureS as WeLD pE
having in each OF the steps hundreds, etc.
coming both before and after thousands-"two
hundred and forty-two thousand six hundred
and forty-three billions"
To sum up the suggested way-a myriad has
four ciphers Qoo0D, a billion eight ciphers
q 00000e0, a trion twelve ciphers GON0O.-
COCO 00eo. a quadrillion sixteen ciphers. and so
on. Every quantity IS punctuated in fours
The various steps embrace tens, hundreds, and
thousands by single numbers only.
The study of figures always brings UP regret
at the universal choice of the decimal system
II our semi-civflized Northumberland OF
using both hands together for their counting
whereby they arrived at the number ten on the
hngers-had just gone step higher and en-
ployed the two hands in combination whereby
the number thirty-tive would have been reached.
they would have conferred an inestuable benefit
their posterity, by giving the senary
scale instead Of the decimal. with immense
and incalculabIe saving Of labor in our arith-
metiC