Sacha writes
On 8/9/06 14:34, in article , "K"
wrote:

Sacha writes
snip

I was living in a small hamlet just on the very edge of the battlefield of
Waterloo. It was in 1970 so a very long time ago now but I don't remember a
problem with understanding them. We were the only English there, so perhaps
I just got used to it. I do recall thinking that their numbering system of
septante and nonante for seventy and ninety was a great deal more 'sensible'
than that of the French!

Isn't the French a relic of counting to base 20?

ISTR the Phoenicians counted to base 60. I still find that
mind-boggling, despite having grown up with a monetary system which
combined base 4, 12 and 20.

I'm sure you're right, Kay but it's all Greek to me. ;-)

Having 20 different numbers before you start with the next unit up
instead of 10. We still use base 14 and 16 for weight - counting from 0
to 15 oz before we lump them together as 1 lb and start again from 0 ozs
for example.
--
Kay