jueves, 27 de enero de 2011

The Ordinal and the Cardinal Numbers

The ordinal number
Un número ordinal es un número que denota la posición de un elemento perteneciente a una sucesión ordenada. Por ejemplo, en la sucesión a b c d, el elemento a es el primero, b el segundo, c el tercero.





The Cardinal number

El cardinal indica el número o cantidad de elementos de un conjunto, sea esta cantidad finita o infinita. Los números cardinales constituyen una generalización interesante del concepto de número natural, permitiendo comparar la cantidad de elementos de conjuntos infinitos.


A continuacion se les presenta "the Ordinal numbers" y "the Cardinal Numbers" con la finalidad de que puedan diferenciarlos:

Table of Cardinal Numbers

Carcinal numbers from 1 through 1,000,000
1one 11eleven 21twenty-one 31thirty-one
2two 12twelve 22twenty-two 40forty
3three 13thirteen 23twenty-three 50fifty
4four 14fourteen 24twenty-four 60sixty
5five 15fifteen 25twenty-five 70seventy
6six 16sixteen 26twenty-six 80eighty
7seven 17seventeen 27twenty-seven 90ninety
8eight 18eighteen 28twenty-eight 100a/one hundred
9nine 19nineteen 29twenty-nine 1,000a/one thousand
10ten 20twenty 30thirty 1,000,000a/one million

Separation between hundreds and tens

Hundreds and tens are usually separated by 'and' (in American English 'and' is not necessary).

110 - one hundred and ten
1,250 - one thousand, two hundred and fifty
2,001 - two thousand and one

Hundreds

Use 100 always with 'a' or 'one'.

100 - a hundred / one hundred

'a' can only stand at the beginning of a number.

100 - a hundred / one hundred
2,100 - two thousand, one hundred

Thousands and Millions

Use 1,000 and 1,000,000 always with 'a' or 'one'.

1,000 - a thousand / one thousand
201,000 - two hundred and one thousand

Use commas as a separator.

57,458,302

The Number 1,000,000,000

In English this number is a billion. This is very tricky for nations where 'a billion' has 12 zeros. 1,000,000,000,000 in English, however, is a trillion.

But don't worry, these numbers are even a bit problematic for native speakers: for a long time the British 'billion' had 12 zeros (a number with 9 zeros was called 'a thousand million'). Now, however, also in British English 'a billion' has 9 zeros. But from time to time this number still causes confusion (just like this paragraph, I'm afraid). ;o)

Singular or Plural?

Numbers are usually written in singular.

two hundred Euros
several thousand light years

The plural is only used with dozen, hundred, thousand, million, billion, if they are not modified by another number or expression (e.g. a few / several).

hundreds of Euros
thousands of light year.