Re: Ordinal Numbers (1st, 2nd, etc.)
Re: Ordinal Numbers (1st, 2nd, etc.)
- Subject: Re: Ordinal Numbers (1st, 2nd, etc.)
- From: Deivy Petrescu <email@hidden>
- Date: Sun, 19 Aug 2001 20:20:54 -0400
At 12:49 AM +0100 8/18/01, Nigel Garvey wrote:
Paul Skinner wrote on Fri, 17 Aug 2001 09:33:17 -0400:
>on 8/17/01 5:47 AM, Nigel Garvey wrote:
>
>> Is there a proper English way to ordinalise negatives and fractional
>> numbers? Minus oneth or minus first? 3.2th or 3.2nd?
>>
>> NG
>
> Those are cardinal numbers.
Are you sure? It was confusion between cardinals (numbers expressing how
many) and ordinals (numbers expressing which one) that was mainly
responsible for the new millennium being celebrated at the beginning of
2000.
NG
I do not know if ordinal exists for any fractional number. It
certainly exists for at least one fractional number, 1.5! It is used
in counting of centuries and in mathematics. It is written as sesqui,
as in sesquicentennial. However, I have never seen 1.5th.
regards
Deivy Petrescu
http://www.dicas.com