Lesson 1: Numbers - Chatlog (sorta)
I neglected to make a chatlog, so these are just my notes, from memory.
The D'ni number system, unlike nearly every Earth system, is base-25 rather than base-10. We use base-10 because we have 10 fingers on our hands... the D'ni appeared to use the same rationalization, but instead of adding fingers from the left to the right, they multiplied. It's really a very efficient system. Also, from what we've been able to tell, it appears as though the D'ni alphabet and the numbers originated from the same system.
Take Greek, for example. In Greek, letters and numbers were used interchangeably. To denote that a given letter was supposed to be a number, you'd add an apostrophe, like so:
Α' = 1, Β' = 2, Γ' = 3, Δ' = 4, etc.
In D'ni, it looks as though a basic symbol was used for the letter, while a box was added if it was to represent a letter. (Forgive my crappy erasing skillz.)
v = v, 1 = 1; m = m, @ = 12,
Eventually, while the numbers remained more or less as-is, the letters became more cursive in appearance:
v = v; m = m
But they're still recognizable. So knowing your numbers is one of the best ways of being able to identify letters.
There are 25 numbers, ranging from 0 to 24.
Zero (roon) can be seen all over the Great Zero, in your Relto bookshelf, and in your KI. It looks like a box with a dot in it.
0
All of the other numbers are ultimately based on four different symbols:
1 2 3 4
Those represent 1, 2, 3 and 4, respectively. In D'ni, that's fah, bree, sen and tor. To remember the different shapes, this may come in handy:
Just imagine that each box is sort of providing a window to a small part of an English number.
Now, those four symbols are rotated 90 degrees counter-clockwise to represent the various powers of five:
5 ) % [
So 5 is 1 turned sideways, 10 is 2 (5x2) sideways, 15 is 3 (5x3), and 20 is 4 (5x4). 5, 10, 15 and 20 are vaht, nayvoo, heebor and rish, respectively.
Just like in English, we have numbers like "thirteen" (literally three-ten) and nineteen (nine-ten), D'ni has similar constructions for all the mid-point numbers. For example, 14 is the symbols for 10 and 4 interposed:
= + 4 = $
So 14 would be spoken aloud just as it appears: ten-and-four. Or close, anyhow... Note that when I mentioned the names of the five-powers, that I underlined certain portions. Just like "teen" isn't quite "ten," and "thir" isn't quite three. In this case, we say "nay-gah-tor." Nay representing nayvoo, or 10, gah being the D'ni word for "and," and tor being the D'ni for 4.
Therefore, we get the following:
0
roon1
fah2
bree3
sen4
tor
5
vaht6
vah-gah-fah7
vah-gah-bree8
vah-gah-sen9
vah-gah-tor
)
nayvoo!
nay-gah-fah@
nay-gah-bree#
nay-gah-sen$
nay-gah-tor
%
heebor^
hee-gah-fah&
hee-gah-bree*
hee-gah-sen(
hee-gah-tor
[
rish]
ri-gah-fah{
ri-gah-bree}
ri-gah-sen\
ri-gah-tor
As you can see, each column continues down, and each row continues across. Where the two meet, you simply add the values. The result (both in the appearance of the number and the name) is the combination of the two.
It's possible that, when counting on their hands, the D'ni turned one hand sideways to represent the powers of five, which is why they're written as being turned 90 degrees to the side.
Now, since we have a base 10 system, each position further to the left represents an additional power of ten. So the number 9573 is 3, plus 7 x 10, plus 5 x 10 x 10, plus 9 x 10 x 10 x10.
Likewise, the D'ni moved a digit further to the left whenever they wanted to represent a magnitude of 25. So, the D'ni number [ 9 | 5 | 7 | 3 ] would represent 3, plus 7 x 25, plus 5 x 25 x 25, plus 9 x 25 x 25 x 25.
9573
Therefore:
9 x 15,625 = 140,625
5 x 625 = 3,125
7 x 25 = 175
3 = 3
The number [ 9 | 5 | 7 | 3 ] in D'ni would represent 143,928 in base-10.
We'll use three (sen) as our example number in order to tell you the names of the different magnitudes:
30 : sen-see
300 : sen-rah
3000 : sen-lahn
30000 : sen-mel
300000 : sen-blo
So [ 1 | 1 ] would be written as "fah-see-fah."
Congratulations: you can now write and speak any D'ni number up to about 25 million.
As an interesting side note: those of you who have completed your marker missions for the Great Zero are probably aware that while we consider a circle to have 360 degrees, the D'ni declared that a circle had 62,500 divisions they called a "toran." This would be written in D'ni as [ 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 ], which as you can probably tell from the above list, would be written as "torlan." The similarity between torlan and toran cannot be coincidence.
The floor of the Great Zero only notes 100 divisions, which seems a little odd given their reliance on base-25 rather than base-10. But notice that 100 in D'ni would be written as [ 4 | 0 ]. So it's a simple matter of two orders of magnitude.
A special notice on the matter of the number 25:
The D'ni obviously considered 25 a special number. While the D'ni certainly had a standard way of writing 25:
10
They also had two additional methods. One was specifically for special occasions. A theoretical hall commemorating the 25 great heroes of D'ni history would have this symbol, as would your birthday cake on your 25th birthday.
|
Along similar lines is the cyclical 25: this was normally used on clocks and dials in order to represent both the number zero and the number 25. You can see it on Gehn's clock in Riven, as well as some of the scrolling readouts in the Great Zero.
:
This concludes the lesson on D'ni numbers and their relation to the alphabet.
The D'ni number system, unlike nearly every Earth system, is base-25 rather than base-10. We use base-10 because we have 10 fingers on our hands... the D'ni appeared to use the same rationalization, but instead of adding fingers from the left to the right, they multiplied. It's really a very efficient system. Also, from what we've been able to tell, it appears as though the D'ni alphabet and the numbers originated from the same system.
Take Greek, for example. In Greek, letters and numbers were used interchangeably. To denote that a given letter was supposed to be a number, you'd add an apostrophe, like so:
Α' = 1, Β' = 2, Γ' = 3, Δ' = 4, etc.
In D'ni, it looks as though a basic symbol was used for the letter, while a box was added if it was to represent a letter. (Forgive my crappy erasing skillz.)
v = v, 1 = 1; m = m, @ = 12,
Eventually, while the numbers remained more or less as-is, the letters became more cursive in appearance:
v = v; m = m
But they're still recognizable. So knowing your numbers is one of the best ways of being able to identify letters.
There are 25 numbers, ranging from 0 to 24.
Zero (roon) can be seen all over the Great Zero, in your Relto bookshelf, and in your KI. It looks like a box with a dot in it.
0
All of the other numbers are ultimately based on four different symbols:
1 2 3 4
Those represent 1, 2, 3 and 4, respectively. In D'ni, that's fah, bree, sen and tor. To remember the different shapes, this may come in handy:
Just imagine that each box is sort of providing a window to a small part of an English number.
Now, those four symbols are rotated 90 degrees counter-clockwise to represent the various powers of five:
5 ) % [
So 5 is 1 turned sideways, 10 is 2 (5x2) sideways, 15 is 3 (5x3), and 20 is 4 (5x4). 5, 10, 15 and 20 are vaht, nayvoo, heebor and rish, respectively.
Just like in English, we have numbers like "thirteen" (literally three-ten) and nineteen (nine-ten), D'ni has similar constructions for all the mid-point numbers. For example, 14 is the symbols for 10 and 4 interposed:
= + 4 = $
So 14 would be spoken aloud just as it appears: ten-and-four. Or close, anyhow... Note that when I mentioned the names of the five-powers, that I underlined certain portions. Just like "teen" isn't quite "ten," and "thir" isn't quite three. In this case, we say "nay-gah-tor." Nay representing nayvoo, or 10, gah being the D'ni word for "and," and tor being the D'ni for 4.
Therefore, we get the following:
0
roon1
fah2
bree3
sen4
tor
5
vaht6
vah-gah-fah7
vah-gah-bree8
vah-gah-sen9
vah-gah-tor
)
nayvoo!
nay-gah-fah@
nay-gah-bree#
nay-gah-sen$
nay-gah-tor
%
heebor^
hee-gah-fah&
hee-gah-bree*
hee-gah-sen(
hee-gah-tor
[
rish]
ri-gah-fah{
ri-gah-bree}
ri-gah-sen\
ri-gah-tor
As you can see, each column continues down, and each row continues across. Where the two meet, you simply add the values. The result (both in the appearance of the number and the name) is the combination of the two.
It's possible that, when counting on their hands, the D'ni turned one hand sideways to represent the powers of five, which is why they're written as being turned 90 degrees to the side.
Now, since we have a base 10 system, each position further to the left represents an additional power of ten. So the number 9573 is 3, plus 7 x 10, plus 5 x 10 x 10, plus 9 x 10 x 10 x10.
Likewise, the D'ni moved a digit further to the left whenever they wanted to represent a magnitude of 25. So, the D'ni number [ 9 | 5 | 7 | 3 ] would represent 3, plus 7 x 25, plus 5 x 25 x 25, plus 9 x 25 x 25 x 25.
9573
Therefore:
9 x 15,625 = 140,625
5 x 625 = 3,125
7 x 25 = 175
3 = 3
The number [ 9 | 5 | 7 | 3 ] in D'ni would represent 143,928 in base-10.
We'll use three (sen) as our example number in order to tell you the names of the different magnitudes:
30 : sen-see
300 : sen-rah
3000 : sen-lahn
30000 : sen-mel
300000 : sen-blo
So [ 1 | 1 ] would be written as "fah-see-fah."
Congratulations: you can now write and speak any D'ni number up to about 25 million.
As an interesting side note: those of you who have completed your marker missions for the Great Zero are probably aware that while we consider a circle to have 360 degrees, the D'ni declared that a circle had 62,500 divisions they called a "toran." This would be written in D'ni as [ 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 ], which as you can probably tell from the above list, would be written as "torlan." The similarity between torlan and toran cannot be coincidence.
The floor of the Great Zero only notes 100 divisions, which seems a little odd given their reliance on base-25 rather than base-10. But notice that 100 in D'ni would be written as [ 4 | 0 ]. So it's a simple matter of two orders of magnitude.
A special notice on the matter of the number 25:
The D'ni obviously considered 25 a special number. While the D'ni certainly had a standard way of writing 25:
10
They also had two additional methods. One was specifically for special occasions. A theoretical hall commemorating the 25 great heroes of D'ni history would have this symbol, as would your birthday cake on your 25th birthday.
|
Along similar lines is the cyclical 25: this was normally used on clocks and dials in order to represent both the number zero and the number 25. You can see it on Gehn's clock in Riven, as well as some of the scrolling readouts in the Great Zero.
:
This concludes the lesson on D'ni numbers and their relation to the alphabet.