Luận Văn Writing and reading numeral in English

Khóa luận tốt nghiệp
Đề tài: Writing and reading numeral in English


TABLE OF CONTENT
I. PART A: INTRODUCTION
1. Rationale 4
2. Aims of the study 4
3. Scope of the study . 4
4. Methods of study . 5
5. Design of study 5
II. PART B: DEVELOPMENT
Chapter 1: DEFINITION OF NUMERAL 6
1.1. History of numeral . 6
Definition 10
Chapter 2: CLASSIFICATION OF NUMERAL
2.1. Classification of numeral . 14
2.1.1. Cardinal numbers 14
2.1.2. Ordinal numbers 22
2.1.3. Dates 25
2.1.4. Fractions and decimals 30
2.1.5. Roman number 33
2.1.6. Specialised numbers 35
2.1.7. Empty numbers . 38
2.2. The major differences between numeral in English and Vietnamese 40
2.2.1. Dates 40
2.2.2. Phone numer . 41
2.2.3. Zero number 42
2.2.4.Fraction 43
Chapter 3: EXERCISE IN APPLICATION . 44
3
III. PART C: CONCLUSION
1. Summary of study . 48
2. Suggestion for further study . 49
REFERENCES . 50
4
I. PART A: INTRODUCTION
1. Rationale:
English is one of the most widely used languages worldwide when being
used by over 60% the world population. It‘s used internationally in business,
political, cultural relation and education as well. Thanks to the widespread use
of English, different countries come close to each other to work out the
problems and strive for prosperous community.
Realizing the significance of English, almost all Vietnamese learners have
been trying to be good at English, Mastering English is the aim of every
learners.
However, there still remain difficulties faced by Vietnamese learner of
English due to both objective and subjective factors, especially in writing and
reading numeral because learners sometimes skip when they think that it is an
unimportant part.
Therefore, it is necessary to collect ground rule of reading and writing
English numeral. This will help learner avoid confusedness of English numeral.
2. Aims of the study:
As we know, English numbers often appear in document, even daily
communication. The leaner of English sometimes don‘t know how to read or
write them exactly. Therefore, this research is aimed at:
 Collecting type of popular numeral in English document and daily
communication.
 Instructing writing and reading numeral exactly.
3. Scope of the study
Numeral in English is a wide category including: mathematic, technology,
business .therefore I only collect numbers used in daily speaking cultures in
this research paper.
5
4. Methods of the study
Being a student of Foreign Language Faculty with four years study at the
university , I have a chance to equip myself with the knowledge of many fields
in society such as :sociology , economy , finance, culture ,etc With the
knowledge gained from professional teachers, specialized books, references and
with the help of my friends the experience gained at the training time , I have
put my mind on theme : ―writing and reading numeral in English‖ for my
graduation paper .
Documents for research are selected from reliable sources, for example
―books published by oxford, website Furthermore, I illustrate with examples
quoted from books, internet, etc
5. Design of the study
The study is divided into three main parts of which the second one is the
most important part.
 Part one is introduction that gives out the rationale for choosing the topic
of this study , pointing out the aim ,scope as well as methods of the study
 Part two is development that consists of .chapter
 Part three is the conclusion of the study, in which all the issues mentioned
in previous part of the study are summarized.
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PART B: DEVELOPMENT
Chapter 1: DEFINITION OF NUMERAL
1.1. History of counting systems and numeral
Nature's abacus
Soon after language develops, it is safe to assume that humans begin
counting - and that fingers and thumbs provide nature's abacus. The decimal
system is no accident. Ten has been the basis of most counting systems in history.
When any sort of record is needed, notches in a stick or a stone are the
natural solution. In the earliest surviving traces of a counting system, numbers are
built up with a repeated sign for each group of 10 followed by another repeated
sign for 1.
Egyptian numbers: 3000-1600 BC
In Egypt, from about 3000 BC, records survive in which 1 is represented
by a vertical line and 10 is shown as ^. The Egyptians write from right to left, so
the number 23 becomes lll^^
If that looks hard to read as 23, glance for comparison at the name of a
famous figure of our own century - Pope John XXIII. This is essentially the
Egyptian system, adapted by Rome and still in occasional use more than 5000
years after its first appearance in human records. The scribes of the Egyptian
pharaohs (whose possessions are not easily counted) use the system for some
very large numbers - unwieldy though they undoubtedly are.
From about 1600 BC Egyptian priests find a useful method of shortening the
written version of numbers. It involves giving a name and a symbol to every
multiple of 10, 100, 1000 and so on.
So 80, instead of being to be drawn, becomes; and 8000 is not but . The
saving in space and time in writing the number is self-evident. The disadvantage
is the range of symbols required to record a very large number - a range
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impractical to memorize, even perhaps with the customary leisure of temple
priests. But for everyday use this system offers a real advance, and it is later
adopted in several other writing systems - including Greek, Hebrew and early
Arabic
Babylonian numbers: 1750 BC
The Babylonians use a numerical system with 60 as its base. This is
extremely unwieldy, since it should logically require a different sign for every
number up to 59 (just as the decimal system does for every number up to 9).
Instead, numbers below 60 are expressed in clusters of ten - making the written
figures awkward for any arithmetical computation.
Through the Babylonian pre-eminence in astronomy, their base of 60 survives
even today in the 60 seconds and minutes of angular measurement, in the 1 80
degrees of a triangle in the 360 degrees of a circle. Much later, when time can be
accurately measured, the same system is adopted for the subdivisions of an hour
The Babylonians take one crucial step towards a more effective numerical
system. They introduce the place-value concept, by which the same digit has a
different value according to its place in the sequence. We now take for granted
the strange fact that in the number 222 the digit '2' means three quite different
things - 200, 20 and 2 - but this idea is new and bold in Babylon.
For the Babylonians, with their base of 60, the system is harder to use. For a
number as simple as 222 is the equivalent of 7322 in our system (2 x 60 squared
+ 2 x 60 + 2).
The place-value system necessarily involves a sign meaning 'empty', for
those occasions where the total in a column amounts to an exact multiple of 60.
If this gap is not kept, all the digits before it will appear to be in the wrong
column and will be reduced in value by a factor of 60.
Another civilization, that of the Maya, independently arrives at a place-value
system - in their case with a base of 20 - so they too have a symbol for zero.
Like the Babylonians, they do not have separate digits up to their base figure.


REFERENCES:
 http://www.historyworld.net/wrldhis/PlainTextHistories.asp?historyid=ab
34#1602#ixzz0GQPaNKd8&A
 Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913)
 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Names_of_numbers_in_English#Cardinal_nu
mbers
 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Names_of_numbers_in_English#Ordinal_nu
mbers
 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Names_of_numbers_in_English#Dates
51
 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Names_of_numbers_in_English#Fractions_a
nd_decimals
 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Names_of_numbers_in_English#Empty_num
bers
 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Names_of_numbers_in_English#Specialised
_numbers
 Lesson by Edward B. Burger Williams College Ph.D., The University of
Texas at Austin.