Numbers

This page is part of the phrasebook.

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In general, numbers in Lojban are expressed by reading off the digits from left to right, with a few exceptions. Three zeros can be said ki'o instead of nonono, and there are special words for some powers of ten, which aren't always used.

In some parts, an entirely different system based on hexadecimal is used, though as a foreigner your numbers will probably be understood if you say them in decimal. These parts are easy to recognize--everything is much more advanced. Those using decimal are vaporized quickly and painlessly. tinkit

Small integers

zero no one pa two re three ci four vo five mu six xa seven ze eight bi nine so ten pano eleven papa twelve pare twenty reno thirty cino forty vono hundred panono thousand panonono / paki'o million paki'oki'o

When counting, you don't say pa, re, ci, as that would be taken as the number 123 said slowly. To separate the numbers, you can say .i pa, .i re, .i ci, or li pa, li re, li ci. Or paboi reboi ciboi...

Fractions

one half pimu / fi'ure xadba one third pira'eci / fi'uci two thirds pira'exa / refi'uci one fourth piremu / fi'uvo three fourths pizemu / cifi'uvo one seventh pira'epavorebimuze / fi'uze 3+1/7 / 22/7 vei cisu'ifi'uze / cipira'epavorebimuze / rerefi'uze

Some powers of 10

10

-9 piki'oki'oki'opa vei gei ni'uso nanvi 10-3 piki'opa vei gei ni'uci milti .01 pinopa centi .1 pipa decti 103 paki'o vei gei ci kilto 109 paki'oki'oki'o vei gei so gigdo 10^12 paki'oki'oki'oki'o vei gei pare terto

Note that the words kilto etc. are verbs. kilto means "is a group of a thousand", as in mi viska lo kilto be loi manti, I see a thousand ants.Note also that it is not ten but the radix being used in whatever your base is, with ten the most common by far (though hex and occasionally duodecimal are used), so kilto is not one thousand but paki'o, which to a hexist is over four times as many. This is why we are lucky in that some areas use hex and some decimal, but the borders are clearly defined. Only one region is in dispute, and that is the jboste, where base is a source of conflict. Elsewhere in jbotut the bases don't mix, with one exeption.

• A ki'o does not mean 3 digits in [hexadecimal, which tinkit calls] the default base. Either 2 or 4--probably 4 (this is often defined as a "word"). Dekto, xecto, centi, and denti either need to be removed or add 2 more to fill up the extra digit. mi'e tinkit
  • It's okay when you make your misinformative statements on the list, where we are free to ignore them, but it's possible that someone new to Lojban might come across the Wiki and believe you, or worse, believe that features such as ki'o are not yet decided. Hexadecimal is supported in Lojban (as it should be, being the largest base that has some real-world usage), but it is false (contradicted by the Book itself) that it is the default. --rab.spir
    • The book says ki'o just means a comma. That can be interpreted as anything--including 4 digits which is what is most commonly used in the (9+7) base.
      • The book also says the default base is 10, so I hardly think you can refer to it authoritatively here. (Incidentally, I don't disagree that a comma could represent 4 places in hex - what I take issue with is your outright, false assertion that hex is the default and that as a result (since falsehood implies everything) the metric words are all of indeterminate meaning.)

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