[ Home > Local Space > Miscellaneous > ]

The Chronicles of Local Space

A fictional exploration of nearby star systems

Names for Numbers in Base Twelve

This page describes a hypothetical number-naming system for aliens that use base twelve, based on the English names for numbers in base ten. The numbers from one to twelve are combined in various ways to count to 143 (12×12 − 1). 144 (12×12) is represented as Gross, which serves as an additional root to count to 1727 (12×12×12 − 1).

In the following table, the digit ten is represented by X (roman numeral for ten), and elev (eleven) is represented by E (first letter of the word eleven).

The root numbers are:

Number Base 10	Number Base 12	Name of number	Number Base 10	Number Base 12	Name of number	Number Base 10	Number Base 12	Name of number
1	1₁₂	One	12	10₁₂	Twelve	144	100₁₂	Gross
2	2₁₂	Two	24	20₁₂	Twotwelves	288	200₁₂	Twogrosses
3	3₁₂	Three	36	30₁₂	Threetwelves	432	300₁₂	Threegrosses
4	4₁₂	Four	48	40₁₂	Fourtwelves	576	400₁₂	Fourgrosses
5	5₁₂	Five	60	50₁₂	Fivetwelves	720	500₁₂	Fivegrosses
6	6₁₂	Six	72	60₁₂	Sixtwelves	864	600₁₂	Sixgrosses
7	7₁₂	Seven	84	70₁₂	Seventwelves	1008	700₁₂	Sevengrosses
8	8₁₂	Eight	96	80₁₂	Eighttwelves	1152	800₁₂	Eightgrosses
9	9₁₂	Nine	108	90₁₂	Ninetwelves	1296	900₁₂	Ninegrosses
10	X₁₂	Ten	120	X0₁₂	Tentwelves	1440	X00₁₂	Tengrosses
11	E₁₂	Elev	132	E0₁₂	Elevtwelves	1584	E00₁₂	Elevgrosses

In the above table, all root numbers are made by combining the name for the number from two to eleven to the number part, which is “twelve” for twelve times the base number, and “gross” for 144 times the base number.

Eleven is shortened to Elev because eleven sounds too similar to seven.

The roots ending with “twelve” and “gross” take the suffix “and” when combined with a following number. For example, 27 (23₁₂) is called “twotwelves-and-three. The use of this linking root makes it easier to tell the difference between one number and a sequence of numbers. For example, 314 (222₁₂) is Twogrosses-and-Twotwelves-and-Two, but the sequence of numbers 288 (200₁₂), 24 (20₁₂), 2 (2₁₂) is Twogrosses, Twotwelves, Two. For similar reasons, multiples of the base number are expressed in the plural rather than the singular because the plural makes it easier to distinguish between single numbers and pairs of numbers. Compare twotwelves (24 = 20₁₂) and two, twelve (2 = 2₁₂ and 12 = 10₁₂).

The following table has some more example numbers.

Number Base 10	Number Base 12	Name of number
13	11₁₂	Twelve-and-One
88	74₁₂	Seventwelves-and-Four
100	84₁₂	Eighttwelves-and-Four
145	101₁₂	Gross-and-One
156	110₁₂	Gross-and-Twelve
157	111₁₂	Gross-and-Twelve-and-One
583	407₁₂	Fourgrosses-and-Seven
1000	6X4₁₂	Sixgrosses-and-Tentwelves-and-Four
1727	EEE₁₂	Elevgrosses-and-Elevtwelves-and-Elev

Powers of 12
Power	Base 12	Base 10
12⁰	1₁₂	1
12¹	10₁₂	12
12²	100₁₂	144
12³	1000₁₂	1,728
12⁴	10000₁₂	20,736
12⁵	100000₁₂	248,832
12⁶	1000000₁₂	2,985,984
12⁷	10000000₁₂	35,831,808
12⁸	100000000₁₂	429,981,696
12⁹	1000000000₁₂	5,159,780,352
12¹⁰	10000000000₁₂	61,917,364,224
12¹¹	100000000000₁₂	743,008,370,688
12¹²	1000000000000₁₂	8,916,100,448,256

[ Top ]