Talk:Japanese numerals
From Academic Kids
"五分五分" (fifty-fifty) is certainly a valid example of fractional decimals, but it's confusing because literally it's "five hundredths - five hundredths"! Any better examples? - - Paul Richter 08:42, 31 Mar 2004 (UTC)
- Note that 分 is "one tenth" (cf. Chinese numerals). It means "one percent" only when refering to a rate or discount. I guess it was because the base unit was 割 when computing the rate. Fukumoto 16:19, 10 Apr 2004 (UTC)
- [On examples] The best example might be the hitting average for baseball players. When we say that Ichiro is hitting .335, we say 3割3分5厘 and almost never use the western style decimals when spoken. (The western-style decimals are used when written down, mainly because of the small space it requires.)
- [On 分 being 1/10 or 1/100] I found more on this at the Keirinkan website (http://www.shinko-keirin.co.jp/sansu/WebHelp/5nen2/52_14.htm) (a major publisher known for their arithmetic textbook). According to the page, the term "wari" (then written 和利) was used as a unit for interest rates in the Kamakura period to the Muromachi period. As the need for calculating interest rose and calculations began to get complex, the Chinese decimal system was brought to Japan. Since 割 already existed as the unit for 1/10, 分 (1/10 in China) was adopted to mean 1/100, 厘 (1/100) as 1/1000, and so on. As for 五分五分 (fifty-fifty), it is highly possible that it originally meant 50%-50%.
- With these in mind, I added the example about hitting averages. As for 1/10, maybe I should write a separate article about Japanese decimal fractions? 朝彦 (Asahiko) 10:50, Jun 19, 2004 (UTC)
- Whoops, the example on batters were already there at the bottom -- I didn't see it. But it is the most common example of "buai" (歩合, meaning traditional style of fractions) used in everyday speech nevertheless, so I will leave it as it is. 朝彦 (Asahiko) 10:56, Jun 19, 2004 (UTC)
But then, there's another common use of 分: 「体温が38度9分」 Somehow I don't see it in any other temperature.Fukumoto 16:00, 25 Jun 2004 (UTC)
- You're right. That's really interesting as it also acts as an evidence that 分 came in as 1/10. But except for that, I don't think there are many occasions where 分 = 1/10. A complex situation we've got here. 朝彦 (Asahiko) 11:23, Jun 28, 2004 (UTC)
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pain and death
What's this bit about 7 being pronounced "shi" and therefore avoided? The "superstition numbers" are 4 and 9, 9 being readable as "ku" and evoking suffering (苦). I'm curious where the "7" came from; I haven't heard that before. adamrice 15:22, 9 Sep 2004 (UTC)
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chinese - japanese numerals
The page should mention something about how the numeral characters were imported from the Chinese.
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