Why do Chinese people count in units of 10,000?
7 Answers
It seems you are asking how the language/culture developed a word for 10^4 (but, say, no word for 10^5), which is going to be hard to answer archeologically.
The ancient Greeks also had a word for 10^4, myriad, which is borrowed into English (albeit not as a common word). There is some evidence (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The...) that they also would have counted with myriad myriads.
For another different number system, which I am unable to intuitively explain, see the lakh (10^5) and crore (10^7) from the
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ind....
The ancient Greeks also had a word for 10^4, myriad, which is borrowed into English (albeit not as a common word). There is some evidence (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The...) that they also would have counted with myriad myriads.
For another different number system, which I am unable to intuitively explain, see the lakh (10^5) and crore (10^7) from the
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ind....
Actually, 10^4 is not the only system that developed in China. This is similar to English having both 10^3 and 10^6 systems (in the old British system, 10^6 is 1 million, 10^12 is 1 billion, 10^18 is 1 trillion, and in the American system now popular worldwide amongst English-speaking countries, 10^6 is 1 million, 10^9 is 1 billion, 10^12 is 1 trillion).
Similarly, Chinese had a few other systems, but 10^4 got settled upon. See this page for the other common ones of history:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chi...
Be glad you aren't using the Indian numbering system which separates as 3,2,2,2... for example 1,00,00,000
Similarly, Chinese had a few other systems, but 10^4 got settled upon. See this page for the other common ones of history:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chi...
Be glad you aren't using the Indian numbering system which separates as 3,2,2,2... for example 1,00,00,000
I don't know this for a fact, but my inclination is to say it has to do with the development of the number zero.
By utilizing the ten-thousand as a singular unit, you're able to avoid using zeros to declare a new unit (as in the Arabic system: 10000; note that before the zero was "invented" many societies used a simple space to indicate an "empty" digit). This could also explain why other ancient societies have had a similar system of counting. If you ask, "So why not ten one-thousands?" my guess would be that 10000 was used often enough to warrant its own denomination.
Again, purely a guess based on my own knowledge - no real factual evidence to back this up.
By utilizing the ten-thousand as a singular unit, you're able to avoid using zeros to declare a new unit (as in the Arabic system: 10000; note that before the zero was "invented" many societies used a simple space to indicate an "empty" digit). This could also explain why other ancient societies have had a similar system of counting. If you ask, "So why not ten one-thousands?" my guess would be that 10000 was used often enough to warrant its own denomination.
Again, purely a guess based on my own knowledge - no real factual evidence to back this up.