Numbers and mathmatical expressions in Qtwyqp Qly are probably the most needlessly complex and intertwined subjects of Qtwyqp Qly. So this is fair warning right here: this lesson is not for the faint of heart. Be afraid, be very afraid!
Spam ttam tlen tsham ppam tlen ttle gam tsam tlen ttle pham ttle
"Five-thousand seven-hundred twenty-three"
The simple cardinal numbers are recognized by their only vowel: a. These numbers function as adjectives. They give a quantity to the noun. Like adjectives, the have strength and affirmation and are modified the same way to reflect this. Strong indicates precision and weak indicates approximation. Unlike adjectives, they are not inflected to match gender, thus there is never a nasal before the vowel. An exhaustive list follows:
dzam, tpam, gam, pham, phtam, spam, pam, tsham, dam, bdam, tsam, ppam, ttam
"zero, one, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine, ten, hundred, thousand"
Phtṅrmzh phtam zhymph phwphs ṅlay spyayp. Phtṅrmzh tta zhymph phwphs ṅlay spyayp.
"I saw four fish in the river. I saw about a thousand in the river."
Many mathematical operators are essential in the use of everyday numbers. Mathematical operators are identified by their vowels: le. Mathematical operators come after the numbers they operate on. The ones essential to everyday numbers are ttle, tlen, tle, and gdle which mean "plus", "times", "divided by", and "to the power of" respectively. These are illustrated in the examples below.
phtam gam ttle; phtam gam tlen; phtam gam tle; phtam gam gdle
"four plus two; four times two; four divided by two; four to the power of two"
Why are mathematical operators essential? Because one can't say a number any larger than 10 without them, with the exceptions of 100 and 1000. The strength of the least significant digit is weak.
When adding number together to form bigger numbers, the larger numbers usually come first.
Tsam pam ttle
"Sixteen"
When multiplying to obtain larger numbers, multiples of ten usually follow the multiplier.
Pam tsam tlen
"Sixty"
In order to obtain powers of ten greater than one hundred thousand, raise 1000 to the desired power.
Ttam gam gdle
"Exactly one million"
Real life sometimes requires numbers more complicated than given previously. Each compound number may become a number in another mathematical operation.
Gam tsam tlen da ttle ttam pham gdle tlen
"About twenty-eight thousand million"
Or even scarier:
gam tsam tlen dam ttle ttam tlen pham ppam tlen ttle phtam tsam tlen ttle spam ttle ttam tlen gam ppam tlen ttle tsham tsam tlen ttle phtam ttle ttam tlen tsam ttle bdam ttle
"Twenty-eight thousand million, three-hundred forty-five million, two-hundred seventy-four thousand, nineteen"
Fractions are easy, relatively. They are expressed as divisions.
tpam pham tle; pam tsam tpam ttle tle
"One third; six elevenths"
Decimals on the other hand are evil. They are expressed as the sum of multiples of powers of 1/10. You can use 1/100 and 1/1000, but after 3 decimal places it's necessary to use 1/104, 1/105, etc.
Pam tsam tlen tsham ttle bdam tsam tle ttle phtam ppam tle ttle spam ttam tle ttle da tsam phtam gdle tle ttle
"Sixty-seven point nine four five eight"
Due to the way Qtwyqp Qly expresses compound numbers, it's not really much harder to say numbers in number systems with bases less than ten. One could even use bases above ten if he didn't mind some of his digits being expressed as three or more words.
gam pham gdle gam gam gdle ttle tpam ttle,
tsham dam tlen phtam ttle,
tsam spam ttle tsam pam ttle tlen tsam phtam ttle ttle
"1101 (binary),
74 (octal),
FE (hexidecimal)"
Ordinals are the number ending in "th" (or "st", "nd", or "rd") in English. In Qtwyqp Qly, ordinals are derived from the corresponding cardinal simply by changing the a to e. In compound numbers, every cardinal must be changed to an ordinal. These numbers function as adjectives obeying all the same rules that cardinals do. The only difference is meaning: ordinals indicate the rank of a noun in a series.
Qṅymqq phem ṅya ttla qnyqq ṅya zzoy.
"My son is my third child."
These are still ordinals, but they function as adverbs instead of as adjectives. They are derived from the cardinals by changing a to we.
Loym nloy dyoy tswem. Phthymq ṅlay bnyaytq gwem.
"He finished tenth. Secondly, I built a house."
These numbers translate the English "once, twice, thrice," etc. They are derived from the cardinals by changing a to wo. They also act as adverbs.
Ṅlay byaymq phtwom. Ttlwn!
"I've been married four times. No more!"
As stated earlier, mathematical operators are recognized by le. About the only important mathematical operator that wasn't introduced earlier was ttlen, which means "minus". However, I didn't explain negation. An operator may be negated by adding an n to the vowels. Mathematical operators are the only part of speech for which negation always causes a word to take the opposite meaning instead of a simple denial of its meaning. Thus we have ttlen ("minus") from ttle ("plus"), tlen ("times") from tle ("divided by"), and gdlen ("logarithm base … of …") from gdle ("to the power of"). For those who would claim that the opposite of "to the power of" is "the … root of …": I disagree. The logarithm is the inverse function of the exponetial function. In order to get roots (such as square roots), you must raise the number to a fractional power.
phtam gam ttlen, gam phtam gdlen, phtam tpam gam tle gdle
"four minus two; log two of four, the square root of four"
Negative numbers may be formed by subtracted the corresponding positive number from zero.
dam; dzam dam ttlen
"eight; negative eight"
Here are a couple of very important mathematical constants:
bhzhamqh; gdam
"π; e"
These numbers are the horror and confusion of algebra students everywhere, and trying to say them in Qtwyqp Qly makes them even worse. The imaginary constant must be expressed as the square root of negative one.
dzam tpam ttlen tpam gam tle gdle
"i"
Complex numbers are expressed as the sum of a real number and an imaginary number.
Phtam bdam dzam tpam ttlen tpam gam tle gdle tlen ttle
"Four plus nine i."
Relational operators always have lo as their vowels, but so do logical operators. Relational operators are distinguished by the fact that they operate on numbers. A relation operator makes a true or false statement out of two numbers by stating their relationship.
ttlo means "greater than", tlo means "less than", and zzlo means "is equal to".
Gam tpam ttlo. Tpam gam tlo. Gam gam ttle phtam zzlo.
"Two is greater than one. One is less than two. Two plus two equals four."
The date is very long and drawn out, like compound numbers are. The date is given in years, months, and days after the birth of Christ. Beware: the number of months or days is one less than the number of the month or the day, respectively. The number of years is the same as the number of the year. Giving zero as the number is preferable to not giving the number.
Tsrmgd gam ttam tlen phtam ttle tsymq tpam ttla tsrmqh gam tsam tlen ttla bympp Knywst dhdw tsy zzoy.
"The date is February 21st, 2004 A.D."
Months and days of the week are simply enumerated. Sunday consistutes the first day of the week in Qtwyqp Qly.
tsyq tsem; tsyqh phtem
"October; Wednesday"
Indicating times in B.C. may be done by indicating the number of months and days after the so many years before the birth of Christ.
Tsrmq gam tsrmqh phtam ttla tsrmgd ppam gam tsam tlen spam ttle ttle bympp Knywst bhdw dhdw tsy zzyoy.
"The date was March 5th, 125 B.C."
The time is given in hours, minutes, and possibly seconds after midnight. The minutes may be omitted when indicating the approximate hour. The time and date may be indicated together by adding the hours, minutes, and seconds to the years, months, and days after the birth of Christ.
Tsrmphq tsam pa ttle tsymdg dhdw tsy zzoy. Tsrmphq tsam spam ttle tsrmqt spam tsam tlen gam ttle ttla tsymdg dhdw tsy zzoy.
"It's about 4:00pm. The time is 3:52pm."
Last Updated: 2009-05-02
The author, Marq Thompson, wished the content of this website to be uncopyrighted after his death.
