nasin nanpa pona: Difference between revisions

In [[Toki Pona]], numbers dolack very much not play aany central role. In fact, exact numbers beyond 2 getare mostly avoided, only using {{tp|[[mute]]}} in the right [[context]] to say what the quantity is like in the given situation. However, not only are exact numbers seemingly more needed sometimes (or at least they seem useful to a degree), some Toki Pona speakers insist on continuing to speak in ways that force the topic of not only exact, but also big numbers. Hence, people have been making and keep making [[nnainasin nanpa ali ike|new counting systems]] with varying degrees of being in line with toki pona[[minimalism]] and [[usefulness]]. Many of these end up replacing the way overly precise counting is already done (as documented, for example, in [[the book {{lipu pu|the official book]])en}}.

! style="width:0;" | {{w|Arabic numerals}}Numeral

| style="text-align:right;" | 5 || {{tp|luka}} || {{tp|tu tu wan}}

| style="text-align:right;" | 20 || {{tp|mute}} || {{tp|luka luka luka luka}}

| style="text-align:right;" | 100 || {{tp|ale}} || {{tp|mute mute mute mute mute}}

===Extension to the counting system===

However, {{tp|nasin nanpa pona}} allows for one extra step to simplify numbers beyond a couple of hundreds: if numbers smaller than 100 precede {{tp|[[ale]]}}, then {{tp|ale}} gets multiplied by this number. As a result, {{tp|nasin nanpa pona}} is <strong>{{w|centesimal}} (base 100). The word {{tp|wan}} also precedes {{tp|ale}} to avoid confusion with the {{tp|pu}} system.<ref name="kapilu-tepo" /strong>.

| style="text-align: right;" | 100

| style="white-space: nowrap;" | {{tp|wan ale}}

| style="text-align: right;" | 300

| style="white-space: nowrap;" | {{tp|tu wan ale}}

| style="text-align: right;" | 10 001000

| style="white-space: nowrap;" | {{tp|luka luka ale}}

| style="text-align: right;" | 1 2310 45000

| style="white-space: nowrap;" | {{tp|wan ale mute tu wan ale mute mute luka}}

AsIn athe way[[Latin toscript]], writesome downspeakers write the numbers more compactly, by the numberusing wordsthe oftenfirst don'tletter getof spelledthe out like other wordsword, butwritten getin shortenedall downuppercase. toThat the first letter and capitalised.is, {{tp|ale}} becomes {{tok|A}}, {{tp|mute}} becomes {{tok|M}}, {{tp|[[luka]]}} becomes {{tok|L}}, {{tp|[[tu]]}} becomes {{tok|T}}, {{tp|[[wan]]}} becomes {{tok|W}}. Therefore, <code>12 345</code> becomes {{toktp|<code>{{owan nnp|12345}}</code>ale mute tu wan ale mute mute luka}}, becomescondensed into {{toktp|<code>{{o nnp|12345|nasin=sitelen}}</code>WAMTWAMML}}.

AThere shortis no official way to denote "zero"the isnumber zero notas documented by the creators. TheHowever, lettersome {{tok|A}}users isuse takenthe byletter {{tp|aleX}}, soborrowing itthe cannotshape befrom used.the Maybe{{tp|sitelen it'spona}} simplyglyph not necessary,for {{tp|[[ala]]}} being short enough on its own. However, some users might use {{tok|{{o nnp|0|nasin=sitelen}}}} (loaning the shape {{sp|ala}} that {{tp|ala}} takes in {{tp|[[sitelen pona]]}}).

Less established is this extension to the extension that is {{tp|nasin nanpa pona}}: A way to express decimal numbers. {{tok|jan Kapilu}} came up with a way that mirrors base 100 for whole numbers on the other side of the decimal point.

! style="width:0;" | Arabic numeralsNumber

In the book {{Oz|en}}, {{tok|[[jan Sonja]]}} used {{tp|nasin nanpa pona}} as the date format infor {{su}}the (2024copyright =year in {{sptp|tenpo[[sitelen sikepona]]}}, nanpaalso mute2using alethe mute2then-little-known tunumeric tuvariant of {{tp|[[mute]]}}).<ref> ({{cite Ozsp|mute2}}</ref>).