- 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
- Decimal Number System is based on multiples of 10.
- Sexagesimal Number System is based on multiples of 60.
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
- English