Vigesimal Number System

  • The Vigesimal numeral system is based on multiples of 20. The word is derived from the Latin ‘vicesimus’ meaning twentieth.
  • Many languages in Europe and around the world continue to count in numbers based on 20.

Alternative base number systems

Recent use

  • United Kingdom
    • Before Decimalisation (15 Feb 1971), the old British pound consisted of 20 shillings, each shilling had 12 pennies, each penny had four farthings or two halfpennies.
    • Before the adoption of the Metric system (1965), the British imperial weight system of one ton consisted of twenty hundredweight.

In the Ancient World

  • The Maya and the Aztecs both used a vigesimal number system.
  • However, Ancient Egypt, Ancient China, Ancient Greece and Ancient Rome all used the Decimal Number System.

World languages using the vigesimal system today

    • The Yoruba language, Africa. (which dates back 15,000 years) (Twenty is Ogun)
    • The Tlingit People, Alaska and Canada.
    • The Inupiat People, Alaska.
    • Dzongkha language, Bhutan.
    • Munda language, India.
    • Atong language, India.
    • Burushaski language, Pakistan.
    • Ainu language, Japan.
    • Chukchi language, Siberia.
    • Maori language, Oceania.

European languages using the vigesimal system today

    • English
      • Score is 20. twoscore is 40, threescore is 60, fourscore is 80, fivescore is 100, sixscore is 120, etc.
    • Brythonic Celtic
      • Wikanti is 20.
      • Yan Tan Tethera, a sheep counting system based on Brythonic Celtic used in Northern England until c.1910. (Jiggit is twenty)
    • Scottish Gaelic
      • 20-199
    • Welsh
      • 20-199 (Ugain is 20)
    • French
      • Vingt is 20. Numbers from 60-99 are multiples of 20. Thus 90 is fourscore and ten: quatre-vingt-dix.
    • Breton
      • 60-99 (Ugent is 20)
    • Cornish
      • (Ugens is 20)
    • Danish
      • 50-99, (Tyve is 20) (50 is two score plus half the third score)
    • Albanian
    • Georgian
    • Nakh languages
    • Basque
      • 20-100
    • Resian Dialect of Slovenian

Posted in .