free basing [Why do humans use base 10]

[Kimstu]

@naita

Roman numerals is not what makes their number system base ten. Spoken numbers going 1-10, 10 and 1, 10 and 2, …, 10 and 9, 20, … 100, two 100, however, makes it base ten.

We need to distinguish between the concepts of “base of a number system” in general and the more specific “base of a positional number system”.

Yes, most Indo-European languages including classical Latin use a base-ten verbal number system, even though most of them for most of their history didn’t have the concept of place-value numbers. That is, they verbally represented numbers using multiples of powers of ten, but they had a unique and specific name for each power.

The form of a number like “one thousand one hundred and eleven” is base-ten but doesn’t imply place-value. Representing that number by saying or writing “one-one-one-one”, on the other hand, does imply place-value.

[naita]

@Lemur866

Is that how the Romans said numbers? They’d see MCMXII and say, “One thousand nine hundred and twelve”? Or, the latin equivalent?

The way we say numbers in the modern era is a consequence of our positional numbering system.

No, our positional number system is a consequence of one way we said numbers. And yes, that’s how the Romans said numbers.