sina wile kepeken e nasin nanpa pi toki pona la sina wile toki mute. ni la jan mute li pali e nasin nanpa ante. nasin nanpa pi toki pona li ken ala toki e nanpa mute mute taso lipu ni la mi toki e ijo pi nanpa wan taso. taso toki mi pi nanpa ante lu lon lipu ni: nimi antonym The number system in toki pona is rather unwieldy. Because of this it's not uncommon for there to be a proposed revision to the numbering system. Whilst there's a lot of maths that it's ill-equipped to handle, i'll just be focusing on whole numbers here (though see antonym adjective for how i would expand it to the integers).
nasin pi tenpo ni li ni|Refresher on what we're starting with:
nasin lili|simple system:
ala = lu ala; wan = lu wan; tu = lu tu; mute ≥ lu san; ale = ijo pi mute pi nanpa ala, ijo ale. o kepeken nimi lu wan i pi nanpa ni: sina wile toki.
nanpa li lili anu sijelo lon ona li suli ala la nasin ni li pona. taso ona li ken pakala sona. kon pi "ilo tu" li ilo lu tu anu ilo tu? ala = 0; wan = 1; tu = 2; mute ≥ 3; ale = infinity, countless, all of them. Then just use whichever one corresponds to the number you need.
This system works pretty well for when the number is small or accuracy isn't important. But it can cause ambiguity as to whether they're acting as a number or as another form (is "ilo tu" two tools or a knife?).
nasin suli|complex cardinals:
wan = lu wan; tu = lu tu; luka = lu luka; mute = lu san tu; ale = lu tu po po. nanpa pi toki sina li nanpa kepeken ale wan
ante pi nasin lu tu li ken pakala sona. jan toki e nimi "mute" la kon pi toki sina li mute lu tawa lu tu anu lu san tu. jan toki e nimi "ale" la kon pi toki sina li ijo ale anu lu tu po po. nasin nanpa ni la nanpa li kama suli lu lon tenpo lili. toki pona la lu tu po san li "mute mute mute mute luka luka luka tu tu". nimi lu po lu lon toki wawa li kama nimi lu wan san lu lon toki Inli. taso sina wile sona e nanpa la sina ken kepeken e nanpa nimi. sina toki pi nanpa pi mute lu tawa lu tu po po la ona li pakala mute mute. ni la nanpa sin li nanpa ante lu wan ala la nanpa sin li wile nimi pi nanpa pi nimi pi nanpa ante i lu wan ala. toki pi jan pi mani lu wan ala ala ala ala ala ala ala ala ala li wile jan pi awen mute mute mute ken wan = 1; tu = 2; luka = 5; mute = 20; ale = 100. The value is then equal to the sum of the words used.
The differences between the complex and simple numbers can cause confusion, like if someone says "mute" do they mean 3+ or exactly 20, and if they say "ale" do they mean everything or exactly 100? And these numbers get pretty big pretty fast, like 99 = mute mute mute mute luka luka luka tu tu, two words in english into 9 words in toki pona. On the plus side you can kinda tell by the length of time they're talking just how big the number is. It gets much worse once you go past 100, then if the number is 10 times as big it takes 10 times as long to say. To talk about millionaires would be a test of endurance.
nasin pi wan seme|complex ordinals:
sama pi nasin suli taso nimi "nanpa" lu lon poki kama ona take the complex cardinal and just put "nanpa" before it.
nasin nanpa lu luka wan|base-6:
ku la lipu lu wan san la jan Sonja toki e ni: nasin nanpa lu lon lipu lu wan luka ala san li pona. nasin nanpa ni li kepeken e nimi sin lu wan ala. nimi ni li kijetesantakalu li kijetesantakalu li kijetesantakalu li kijetesantakalu li kijetesantakalu li kijetesantakalu. kon pi nimi "kijetesantakalu" li lu ala. kon pi nimi "kijetesantakalu" li lu wan. kon pi nimi "kijetesantakalu" li lu tu. kon pi nimi "kijetesantakalu" li lu san. kon pi nimi "kijetesantakalu" li lu po. kon pi nimi "kijetesantakalu" li lu luka. kon pi nimi "kijetesantakalu" li lu wan ala. nasin nanpa ni la o kepeken e nimi sin ni lu sama nasin nanpa lu wan ala. nasin nanpa lu wan ala li pona lu tawa mi taso ni li pona ala lu tawa mi: o kepeken ala e nimi "ala" e nimi "wan" e nimi "tu" e nimi "luka". nimi lili li pona lu tawa mi On page 9 of ku, jan Sonja endorses what's on page 399. It is a system built upon adding 6 words: in order they are kijetesantakalu, kijetesantakalu, kijetesantakalu, kijetesantakalu, kijetesantakalu, and kijetesantakalu. Meaning zero, one, two, three, four, and five respectively. And then using them as normal for base 6. Whilst i appreciate the base 6 to keep the number of words down, i think the rejection of ala, wan, tu, and luka as number words is unnecessary. Additionally, i would prefer to use slightly shorter words.
nasin sin ken|Potential new systems:
nasin nanpa suli li sama pi nasin nanpa Loma. nasin nanpa Loma li sama lili pi nasin nanpa lu wan. toki wawa la nasin nanpa li ken kama pona tan nanpa sin mute. taso ni li pona ala. toki wawa la nasin nanpa o kama pona tan ni: ona li kama nasin nanpa sin pi pona mute. sina wile kepeken e nasin nanpa la sina wile e nanpa pi nanpa lu sama noka pi nasin nanpa ni e ni: nanpa kepeken ale li suli lu wan anu lili lu wan tawa nanpa kepeken ante. toki pona li jo e nimi lu ala e nimi lu wan e nimi lu tu e nimi lu luka e nimi lu san tu e nimi lu tu po po. toki pona li ken kepeken e nasin nanpa lu san lu kepeken nimi nanpa ni taso. taso nasin nanpa lu san li pona ala lu tawa jan mute. toki wawa li kama jo e nimi nanpa mute la nasin nanpa lu wan ala anu nasin nanpa lu wan po li lukin pona. nasin nanpa lu wan ala lu tan ni: ona li wile e nimi nanpa lu san e nimi nanpa lu po. nasin nanpa lu wan po lu tan ni: jan mute mute li kepeken e ona. o pali e nimi lu tu lu tawa nasin nanpa pona pi lili mute anu nimi lu wan ala lu tawa nasin nanpa pi jan mute mute. nasin ni lu tu li nasin pona ken pi toki wawa i taso What the complex system has is essentially roman numerals which is essentially unary (base 1) but with extra steps. We could improve it by just adding a word for 1000 and a word for 10000 and and a word for 100000 and no- to improve it we should go to a better base. In order to support a base it must have as many words for numbers as that base and those numbers must be sequential. Currently we have words for 0, 1, 2, 5, 20, and 100. With that we automatically have support for ternary (base 3) using 0, 1 and 2. But noone really likes ternary. So if we're going to add words for numbers there are two obvious bases to go for: seximal (base 6) or decimal (base 10). Seximal because it only requires adding a number for 3 and a number for 4. Decimal because it's what we're all used to. Add two words to get to the smallest good base or add six words to get to the base we're all used to, those are our two main options as i see it.
ijo pi mi ken lu lon lipu ni li ijo pi jan ale. taso ni li pona lu tawa mi: sina pali e ijo pona lu kepeken ona la o pali e ni: mi sona
Whatever i might hold a copyright claim to on this page, is instead released to the public domain. However i make a request: if you make something cool using it, please tell me.
