Calling 23 'twenty-three' makes people think in a decimal straitjacket. i notice that real mathematicians (I'm not one) think of numbers as having particular personalities. I'm sure that the absence of any relation between 67 and 87 would be more obvious if one was called warkle and the other sunub. All the primes could start with 'p' for example.
-- pfperry, Sep 09 2002

" 'real mathematicians' think of numbers as having personalities"...

Thats why they have such poor inter-personal skills. I don't think they should be used as a model for the rest of us (particularly in number nomenclature).
-- Jinbish, Sep 09 2002


I think jutta might say this is a little out of scope for the halfbakery - perhaps pseudodictionary or half-empty would suit it better?
-- yamahito, Sep 09 2002


(as an ex-physicist type bloke, I'd say that "i" has a personality a lot like UnaBubba's - makes life bloody awkward at times, but at least it keeps it interesting..)
-- yamahito, Sep 09 2002


Yes, and when either is acting negative it can be very vexing to get squarely to the root of their problem.
-- bristolz, Sep 09 2002


I'm afraid I don't entirely agree with the decimal straitjacket premise. Booleans and Unicoders houdini out of it fairly easily. I'd even go so far as to say mathematicians would begrudge this, on these grounds: since mathematicians are fully aware of the 'invisible' properties of numbers (the geometric progression motorway, the primes, the squares, irrationals, etc) they might object to these properties being flagged in order to make hoi polloi aware. Like dowlers coming across signs in the desert saying WATER HERE. Mathmos don't have much. I say let's leave them be on this one.
-- General Washington, Sep 09 2002


Not maths puns again...
-- Jinbish, Sep 09 2002


This idea is brilliant, but why restrict yourself to merely the integers up to 100? You should think of new names for all the real numbers up to 100 instead, just to be thorough.
-- pmillerchip, Sep 09 2002


great idea, pmillerchip, why don't you start us off, only up to 1, say. Post them when you're done.
-- General Washington, Sep 09 2002


Some numbers are so... so... Negative.
-- thumbwax, Sep 09 2002


In which case you just spell the number's name sdrawckab.
-- StarChaser, Sep 11 2002


I expected an idea about creating a domain name system for phone numbers.
-- waugsqueke, Sep 11 2002


<puzzle corner>

Here are the names of the numbers from 1 to 35 in a format that I just now made up. If a system like this could be adapted for use by the general public, it could be highly instructive:

A
O
U
AS
AHA
AO
AV
OS
OA
OHO
OV
VIS
VA
VO
VIV
ASIS
ASA
ASO
ASIV
AHAS
AHAHA
AHAV
AOS
AOA
AOHO
AOV
AVIS
AVA
AVO
AVIV
OSIS
OSA
OSO
OSIV

Big pastry to the first one who can say what the next few numbers would be :)

</puzzle corner>
-- globaltourniquet, Sep 11 2002


OAS
OAHA
OAO
OAV
OHOS

But of course 3 should be V and between AHAHA & AHAV should come AHAO.
-- FarmerJohn, Sep 11 2002


Extra bonus point for the error catch, but I defend 3 as U as follows:

- First, it is a phonetic convenience, as is often allowed in linguistic paradigms, even rigid, logical ones

- Second, there is historical connectivity between U and V which is exploited here

- Finally, it throws a tiny wrinkle into the puzzle that is easily justified by the two points above.
-- globaltourniquet, Sep 12 2002


Ah, ravens, if only we could croissant annotations. The main problem with your idea is we have an infinite number of primes and only a finite number of syllables. However, worth a try for comedic value alone.

Ah, schooldays: one times bo is bo. bo times bo is bobo. chu times bo is chubo. bobo times bo is bobobo or chuchu. di times bo is dibo. ...
-- PeterSilly, Sep 13 2002


//bobobo or chuchu//

no, that can't be.. bobo x bo is only bobobo
-- yamahito, Sep 13 2002


//di times bo is dibo//

And di x bo is bodi

In the same way bochu x bochu, bobo x chuchu,
bobochu x chu, bochuchu x bo,
bochuchu + bochuchu and
bobochu + bobochu + bobochu are bobochuchu
-- FarmerJohn, Sep 13 2002


Is there an order of syllables, for example, are chuchubobo or chubochubo acceptable alternatives to bobochuchu?

Also, bobobo must be the same numerically as chuchu - what governs the order of precedence?
-- PeterSilly, Sep 13 2002


no, silly. bobobo is 2 x 2 x 2 = 8. chuchu is 3 x 3 = 9.
-- yamahito, Sep 14 2002


Blast - have to give back my maths degree. I wonder if I can get a refund.
-- PeterSilly, Sep 14 2002


bochuhawuwu - lol

gold!
-- Terrabus, Jan 24 2003



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