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Round numbers

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  18 December 2008

Bengt Sigurd
Bengt Sigurd
Affiliation:
Department of Lingustics, Lund University
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Abstract

Numbers are used for exact and approximative estimations. The numbers used in approximative expressions are typically so-called round numbers, such as 10, 20, 25, 30, 40, 50, 100, 1,000, and such numbers are also very frequent in texts. This article presents evidence that some numbers are rounder than others and discusses how the roundness of a number can be derived from its contents of the base number of the numeral System of the culture. A formula for deriving the roundness of a number is suggested, and some evidence that intuitions about roundness vary between vigesimal and decimal cultures as predicted by the formula is given. (Number, numeral, decimal, vigesimal, money, anthropology, sociolinguistics, language and culture, English, French, Swedish)

Type
Articles
Information
Language in Society , Volume 17 , Issue 2 , June 1988 , pp. 243 - 252
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1988

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References

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