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ANSWERED on Tue 22 Apr 2008 - 2:56 pm UTC by eiffel

Question: Can you devise a scheme to generalize number names to any size?

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Asked by happyengineer on Tue 8 Apr 2008 - 12:49 pm UTC:

I got the following list of number names from various locations. It names
all numbers up to 1e303 (1e303 is centillion).

        "thousand"
        ,"million"
        ,"billion"
        ,"trillion"
        ,"quadrillion"
        ,"quintillion"
        ,"sexillion"
        ,"septillion"
        ,"octillion"
        ,"nonillion"
        ,"decillion"
        ,"undecillion"
        ,"duodecillion"
        ,"tredecillion"
        ,"quattuordecillion"
        ,"quindecillion"
        ,"sexdecillion"
        ,"septdecillion"
        ,"octodecillion"
        ,"novemdecillion"
        ,"vigintillion"
        ,"unvigintillion"
        ,"duovigintillion"
        ,"trevigintillion"
        ,"quattuorvigintillion"
        ,"quinvigintillion"
        ,"sexvigintillion"
        ,"septvigintillion"
        ,"octovigintillion"
        ,"novemvigintillion"
        ,"trigintillion"
        ,"untrigintillion"
        ,"duotrigintillion"
        ,"tretrigintillion"
        ,"quattuortrigintillion"
        ,"quintrigintillion"
        ,"sextrigintillion"
        ,"septtrigintillion"
        ,"octotrigintillion"
        ,"novemtrigintillion"
        ,"quardragintillion"
        ,"unquardragintillion"
        ,"duoquardragintillion"
        ,"trequardragintillion"
        ,"quattuorquardragintillion"
        ,"quinquardragintillion"
        ,"sexquardragintillion"
        ,"septquardragintillion"
        ,"octoquardragintillion"
        ,"novemquardragintillion"
        ,"quinquagintillion"
        ,"unquinquagintillion"
        ,"duoquinquagintillion"
        ,"trequinquagintillion"
        ,"quattuorquinquagintillion"
        ,"quinquinquagintillion"
        ,"sexquinquagintillion"
        ,"septquinquagintillion"
        ,"octoquinquagintillion"
        ,"novemquinquagintillion"
        ,"sexagintillion"
        ,"unsexagintillion"
        ,"duosexagintillion"
        ,"tresexagintillion"
        ,"quattuorsexagintillion"
        ,"quinsexagintillion"
        ,"sexsexagintillion"
        ,"septsexagintillion"
        ,"octosexagintillion"
        ,"novemsexagintillion"
        ,"septuagintillion"
        ,"unseptuagintillion"
        ,"duoseptuagintillion"
        ,"treseptuagintillion"
        ,"quattuorseptuagintillion"
        ,"quinseptuagintillion"
        ,"sexseptuagintillion"
        ,"septseptuagintillion"
        ,"octoseptuagintillion"
        ,"novemseptuagintillion"
        ,"octogintillion"
        ,"unoctogintillion"
        ,"duooctogintillion"
        ,"treoctogintillion"
        ,"quattuoroctogintillion"
        ,"quinoctogintillion"
        ,"sexoctogintillion"
        ,"septoctogintillion"
        ,"octooctogintillion"
        ,"novemoctogintillion"
        ,"nonagintillion"
        ,"unnonagintillion"
        ,"duononagintillion"
        ,"trenonagintillion"
        ,"quattuornonagintillion"
        ,"quinnonagintillion"
        ,"sexnonagintillion"
        ,"septnonagintillion"
        ,"octononagintillion"
        ,"novemnonagintillion"
        ,"centillion"

You can browse those numbers plus other number information at:
    http://mymindblewup.com/know/num/ShowNumberNameList

I'd like to expand that list as far as possible. All the American number
names starting at undecillion follow a pattern where each 10 names are
prefixed with <nothing>, un, duo, tre, quattuor, quin, sex, sept, octo,
novem.

The next part of the name after those prefixes start with dec for decillion
at 10^36 and continue with vigint, trigint, quardragint, qinquagint,
sexagint, septuagint, ontogint, nonagint, cent.

That's the end of the list at centillion (10^303). The list then skips to
ducentillion (10^603) and trecentillion (10^903).

It's easy to see how the centillions will continue on with
quattuordecillion, quindecillion, etc. However, I'm not sure how to do that
indefinitely.

Is it possible to follow the above scheme and get the names for the numbers
between centillion and ducentillion? If so then that covers everything up
to novemcentillion. I don't think there is enough information in the above
scheme to go beyond novemcentillion, so I'll be happy with that if you can
give that to me. If you have ideas how to go beyond that then that'd be
great.

BTW, if you are thinking of responding with a question involving the word
"why" then the answer is "because". *smile*

Comment by User myoarin on Wed 9 Apr 2008 - 9:33 pm UTC:

I'd love to be able to help, but my counting doesn't get much further than

"   This little piggy went to market.
    This little piggy stayed at home.
    This little piggy had roast beef,
    This little piggy had none.
    And this little piggy went "Wee! Wee! Wee!" all the way home."

The rhyme is usually counted out on a child's toes, each line corresponding
to a different toe, starting with the big toe.  (Wikipedia)

Uclue Researcher Answer by Researcher Roger B (eiffel) on Tue 22 Apr 2008 - 2:56 pm UTC:

Hi happyengineer,

Oscar van Vlijmen has prepared a systematic list of number names up to
10^3000, which is a novenonagintanongentillion:

Names for large numbers
http://home.hetnet.nl/~vanadovv/BignumbyN.html

As far as I can tell, this is the most accepted nomenclature. However, it
does have a few problems with confusingly-named numbers, for example
duocentillion (10^309) and ducentillion (10^603).

Landon Noll has designed an alternative non-standard system which goes as
high as you like (e.g. 10^32409 is a decmilliaoctingendotillion) and also
avoids the above ambiguities (10^309 is a cendotillion, and 10^603 is a
ducentillion):

The English name of a number:
http://www.isthe.com/cgi-bin/number.cgi

Landon also makes available the Perl source for his number-to-name
generator.

I hope this information will be usable for your application. I'll resist
the urge to ask "why", but I see that the cows are already stacking
aesthetically on the weighing scale.  *smile*


Additional Reference:

Robert Munafo's Large Numbers Page
http://home.earthlink.net/%7Emrob/pub/math/largenum.html

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