Inglês – Unit 4: Using Numbers

UNIT 4: USING NUMBERS

AIMS:
a. to differentiate cardinal numbers, ordinal numbers and nominal numbers in terms of
form and use;
b. to be able to write numbers scientifically, that is telephone numbers, fractions, decimals,
dates, and the time;
c. to show students how to write basic mathematical operations in English, including
decimals, mean and median, and rounding numbers.

1. Cardinal, Ordinal, and Nominal Numbers

A cardinal number tells “how many.” Cardinal numbers are also known as “counting numbers,”
because they show quantity. Here are some examples using cardinal numbers:
 8 books
 9 friends

Ordinal numbers tell the order of things in a set - first, second, third, etc. Ordinal numbers do
not show quantity. They only show rank or position. Here are some examples using ordinal
numbers:
 3rd fastest
 6th in line

A nominal number names something - a telephone number, a player on a team. Nominal

numbers do not show quantity or rank. They are used only to identify something.
Here are some examples using nominal numbers:
 Jersey number 4
 Mobile phone 02116657

2. Cardinal Numbers and Ordinal Numbers

CARDINAL NUMBERS ORDINAL NUMBERS
0 zero 0th zeroth
1 one 1st first
2 two 2nd second
3 three 3rd third
4 four 4th fourth
5 five 5th fifth
6 six 6th sixth
7 seven 7th seventh
8 eight 8th eighth
9 nine 9th ninth
10 ten 10th tenth
11 eleven 11th eleventh
12 twelve 12th twelfth
13 thirteen 13th thirteenth

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14 fourteen 14th fourteenth

15 fifteen 15th fifteenth
16 sixteen 16th sixteenth
17 seventeen 17th seventeenth
18 eighteen 18th eighteenth
19 nineteen 19th nineteenth
20 twenty 20th twentieth
21 twenty-one 21st twenty-first
30 thirty 30th thirtieth
40 forty 40th fortieth
50 fifty 50th fiftieth
60 sixty 60th sixtieth
70 seventy 70th seventieth
80 eighty 80th eightieth
90 ninety 90th ninetieth
100 hundred 100th hundredth
1000 thousand 1,000th thousandth
1,000,000 million 1,000,000th millionth
1,000,000,000 billion 1,000,000,000th billionth
23 twenty-three 23rd twenty-third
32 thirty-two 35th thirty-fifth
34 thirty-four 39th thirty-ninth
55 fifty-five 42nd forty-second
57 fifty-seven 44th forty-fourth
66 sixty-eight 58th fifty-eighth
79 seventy-nine 64th sixty-fourth
73 seventy-three 73rd seventy-third
84 eighty-four 82nd eighty-second
88 eighty-eight 89th eighty-ninth
98 ninety-eight 91st ninety-first
114 one hundred and fourteen 101st one hundred and first
138 one hundred and thirty-eight 138th one hundred and thirty-eighth
218 two hundred and eighteen 200th two hundredth
480 four hundred and eighty 218th two hundred and eighteenth
3020 three thousand and twenty 358th three hundred and fifty-eighth
11,800 eleven thousand, eight hundred 1,003rd one thousand and third
24,068 twenty-four thousand and sixty-eight 18,002nd eighteen thousand second and two

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3. Spelling of Ordinal Numbers

Form
Just add th to the cardinal number:
 four - fourth
 eleven - eleventh
Exceptions:
 one - first
 two - second
 three - third
 five - fifth
 eight - eighth
 nine - ninth
 twelve - twelfth
In compound ordinal numbers, note that only the last figure is written as an ordinal number:
 421st = four hundred and twenty-first
 5,111th = five thousand, one hundred and eleventh

Figures
When expressed as figures, the last two letters of the written word are added to the ordinal number:
 first = 1st
 second = 2nd
 third = 3rd
 fourth = 4th
 twenty-sixth = 26th
 hundred and first = 101st

Titles
In names for kings and queens, ordinal numbers are written in Roman numbers. In spoken English,
the definite article is used before the ordinal number:
 Charles II - Charles the Second
 Edward VI - Edward the Sixth
 Henry VIII - Henry the Eighth

4. Fractions and decimals

In spoken English, ordinal numbers are also used to quantify the denominator of a fraction. Thus
'fifth' can mean the element between fourth and sixth, or the fraction created by dividing the unit
into five pieces. In this usage, the ordinal numbers can be pluralized: one seventh, two sevenths. The
sole exception to this rule is division by two. The ordinal term ‘second’ can only refer to location in
a series; for fractions English speakers use the term 'half' (plural ‘halves’).

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1/16 one-sixteenth
1/10 or 0.1 one-tenth or zero point one
1/8 one-eighth
2/10 or 0.2 two-tenths
1/4 one-quarter or (mainly American English) one-fourth
3/10 or 0.3 three-tenths
1/3 one-third
3/8 three-eighths
4/10 or 0.4 four-tenths
1/2 One half
6/10 or 0.6 six-tenths
5/8 five-eighths
2/3 two-thirds
7/10 or 0.7 seven-tenths
3/4 three-quarters or three-fourths
8/10 or 0.8 eight-tenths
7/8 seven-eighths
9/10 or 0.9 nine-tenths
15/16 fifteen-sixteenths
5. Numerical Prefixes
A prefix is a syllable at the beginning of a word. A numerical prefix lets you know how many
there are of a particular thing. Here are some common numerical prefixes.
Prefix Prefix meaning Sample words
uni- 1 unicorn: mythical creature with one horn
mono- 1 monorail: train that runs on one track
bi- 2 bicycle: two-wheeled vehicle
tri- 3 triceratops: three-horned dinosaur
quadr- 4 quadruped: four-footed animal
quint- 5 quintuplets: five babies born at a single birth
penta- 5 pentagon: figure with five sides
hex- 6 hexapod: having six legs, an insect, for example
sex- 6 sextet: group of six musicians
hept- 7 heptathlon: athletic contest with seven events
sept- 7 septuplets: seven babies at a single birth
octo- 8 octopus: sea creature with eight arms
novem- 9 novena: prayers said over nine days
deka- or deca- 10 decade: a period of 10 years
cent- hundred century: a period of 100 years
hecto- hundred hectogram: 100 grams
milli- thousand millennium: a period of 1,000 years
kilo- thousand kilogram: 1,000 grams
mega- million megaton: one million tons
giga- billion gigawatt: one billion watts

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6. Mean and Median

The arithmetic mean, also called the average, of a series of quantities is obtained by finding the sum
of the quantities and dividing it by the number of quantities. In the series 1, 3, 5, 18, 19, 20, 25, the
mean or average is 13—in other words, 91 divided by 7.
The median of a series is that point which so divides it that half the quantities are on one
side, half on the other. In the above series, the median is 18.
The median often better expresses the common-run, since it is not, as is the mean, affected
by an excessively high or low figure. In the series 1, 3, 4, 7, 55, the median of 4 is a truer expression
of the common-run than is the mean of 14.

7. Rounding Numbers
A rounded number has about the same value as the number you start with, but it is less exact.
For example, 341 rounded to the nearest hundred is 300. That is because 341 is closer in
value to 300 than to 400. When rounding off to the nearest dollar, $1.89 becomes $2.00, because
$1.89 is closer to $2.00 than to $1.00

Rules for Rounding

Here’s the general rule for rounding:
 If the number you are rounding is followed by 5, 6, 7, 8, or 9, round the number up.
Example: 38 rounded to the nearest ten is 401

 If the number you are rounding is followed by 0, 1, 2, 3, or 4, round the number

down. Example: 33 rounded to the nearest ten is 30

What Are You Rounding to?

When rounding a number, you first need to ask: what are you rounding it to? Numbers can be
rounded to the nearest ten, the nearest hundred, the nearest thousand, and so on.
Consider the number 4,827.
 4,827 rounded to the nearest ten is 4,830
 4,827 rounded to the nearest hundred is 4,800
 4,827 rounded to the nearest thousand is 5,000
All the numbers to the right of the place you are rounding to become zeros. Here are some
more examples:
 34 rounded to the nearest ten is 30
 6,809 rounded to the nearest hundred is 6,800
 1,951 rounded to the nearest thousand is 2,000

Rounding and Fractions

Rounding fractions works exactly the same way as rounding whole numbers. The only difference
is that instead of rounding to tens, hundreds, thousands, and so on, you round to tenths,
hundredths, thousandths, and so on.
 7.8199 rounded to the nearest tenth is 7.8
 1.0621 rounded to the nearest hundredth is 1.06
 3.8792 rounded to the nearest thousandth is 3.879

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Here’s a tip: to avoid getting confused in rounding long decimals, look only at the number in
the place you are rounding to and the number that follows it. For example, to round
5.3824791401 to the nearest hundredth, just look at the number in the hundredths place – 8 - and
the number that follows it - 2. Then you can easily round it to 5.38.

Rounding and Sums

Rounding can make sums easy. For example, at a grocery store you might pick up items with the
following prices:
 $2.25
 $0.88
 $2.69
If you wanted to know about how much they would cost, you could add up the prices with a pen
and paper, or try to add them in your head. Or you could do it the simple way—you could estimate
by rounding off to the nearest dollar, like this:
 $2.00
 $1.00
 $3.00
By rounding off, you could easily figure out that you would need about $6.00 to pay for your
groceries. This is pretty close to the exact number of $5.82.
As you can see, in finding a round sum, it is quickest to round the numbers before adding
them.
Some statisticians prefer to round 5 to the nearest even number. As a result, about half of
the time 5 will be rounded up, and about half of the time it will be rounded down. In this way, 26.5
rounded to the nearest even number would be 26 - it would be rounded down. And, 77.5 rounded
to the nearest even number would be 78 - it would be rounded up.

More than a Million

A googol consists of the number 1 followed by 100 zeros or 10(100). A googolplex is the number 1
followed by a googol zeros.
 Million: 1,000,000
 Billion: 1,000,000,000
 Trillion: 1,000,000,000,000
 Quintillion: 1,000,000,000,000,000,000
 Sextillion: 1,000,000,000,000,000,000,000
 Nonillion: 1,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000
 Centillion: 1 followed by 303 zeros

8. Negative numbers
The name of a negative number is the name of the corresponding positive number preceded by
“minus” or (American English) “negative”. Thus -5.2 is “minus five point two” or “negative five
point two”. For temperatures, Americans colloquially say "below" - short for “below zero” - so a
temperature of -5° is “five below”.

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9. Arithmetic Operations
The basic arithmetic operations are addition, subtraction, multiplication and division, although
this subject also includes more advanced operations, such as manipulations of percentages, square
roots, exponential, and logarithmic functions.

Addition (+)
Addition is the basic operation of arithmetic. In its simplest form, addition combines two numbers,
the addends or terms, into a single number, the sum of the numbers.
Written Form: 3 + 4 = 7: Three plus four is seven.
65 + 89 = 154: Sixty-five plus eighty-nine are one hundred and fifty-four.

Subtraction (−)
Subtraction is the opposite of addition. Subtraction finds the difference between two numbers, the
minuend minus the subtrahend. If the minuend is larger than the subtrahend, the difference is positive;
if the minuend is smaller than the subtrahend, the difference is negative; if they are equal, the
difference is zero.
Written Form: 11 - 6 = 5: Eleven minus six equals five.
1000 -5 = 999: One thousand minus five equal nine hundred and ninety-nine.

Multiplication (×, ·, or *)
Multiplication is the second basic operation of arithmetic. Multiplication also combines two
numbers into a single number, the product. The two original numbers are called the multiplier and the
multiplicand, sometimes both simply called factors.
Written Form: 12 x 4 = 48: Twelve times four equals forty-eight.
22 * 5 = 110: Twenty-two multiplied by five is one hundred and ten.

Division (÷ or /)
Division is essentially the opposite of multiplication. Division finds the quotient of two numbers, the
dividend divided by the divisor. Any dividend divided by zero is undefined. For positive numbers, if
the dividend is larger than the divisor, the quotient is greater than one, otherwise it is less than one
(a similar rule applies for negative numbers). The quotient multiplied by the divisor always yields the
dividend. As it is helpful to look at subtraction as addition, it is helpful to look at division as
multiplication of the dividend times the reciprocal of the divisor, that is a ÷ b = a × 1⁄b. When written
as a product, it obeys all the properties of multiplication.
Written Form: 34 ÷ 2 = 17: thirty-four divided by two are seventeen.
8/8 = 1: Eight divided by eight is one.

10. Mathematical Symbols

Math symbols are shorthand marks that represent mathematical concepts.

Symbol Name Symbol Name

+ addition sign, plus sign ∠ angle
- subtraction sign, minus sign ° degree
x or ⋅ multiplication sign ⊥ perpendicular
÷ or / division sign || parallel
= equal ∼ is similar to (tilde)

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Symbol Name Symbol Name

≠ not equal
< less than
> greater than
≤ less than or equal to
≥ greater than or equal to
# number sign
() parentheses
& and (ampersand)
% percent
π pi
|x| absolute value of x
√ square root
! factorial
± plus or minus
∪ union
∩ ntersection
∅ null or empty set
∈ is a member of
∉ is not a member of
⊂ is a subset of
∃ there exists (existential quantifier)
∀ for all (universal quantifier)
f(x) a function whose variable is x
∴ therefore
Σ sum
... ellipsis (and so on)
∞ infinity
ˆ carat - to the power of

11. Months and Dates

Days of the Week and Months of the Year
The days of the week are: Sunday, Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, and Saturday.
The months of the year are: January, February, March, April, May, June, July, August, September,
October, November, and December.
Note that in English the names of days and months always begin with capital letters.

Dates
In British English, dates are written in the order day, month and year.
For example.
 15 August 1990
 28 March 2000
Sometimes, the last two letters of the number word (st, nd, rd or th) are added to the date.
 15th August 1990
 28th March 2000
A comma is normally inserted between the month and the year when the date comes inside a
sentence.
 I was born on 26th May, 1979.
In American English, it is common to write the month first and to put a comma before the year.
Americans write August 15, 1990.
The date may be written entirely in figures. Different formats are possible.
 30.3.2005
 19/2/2002
 30-2-1999

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All Figure Dates

All figure dates are written differently in British and American English. British people put the day
first while Americans begin with the month. So for example, 10.3.2005 means 10 March 2005 in
Britain and October 3, 2005 in America.
The names of decades are often written like this: the 1980s.
To distinguish between dates before and after the birth of Christ, we use the abbreviations
BC and AD. BC follows the date; AD can come before or after the date.

Written form vs. Spoken form

Written form: 11 November 1975; 11, November 1975; November, 11, 1975; 11 th November 1975.
Spoken form: the eleventh of November nineteen seventy-five.

12. Telling the time

Asking the time

Here are some phrases you can use when you want to know the time:
 What's the time?
 What time is it?
 Have you got the right time?
 What time do you make it?

Telling the time

Read the short description below:
I usually get up at a quarter past seven - that's seven fifteen in the morning. I have breakfast at eight
o'clock and then take the bus to work at half past eight. I usually arrive at work at a quarter to nine.
Sometimes, the bus is late and I arrive at about nine. My morning is usually pretty busy and I like
taking a coffee break at twenty to eleven if possible. I then work to lunchtime at noon. In the
afternoon, I usually have another break at three fifteen. I usually finish work at a quarter to five and
arrive home around six in the evening. At night, I usually go to bed at eleven o'clock.

Look at the rules for telling time in English.

In English we use "past" to say times after the
hour until half past, or 30 minutes past the
hour
In English we use o'clock only at the full hour.
Example: It's eight o'clock
When speaking about the different times of
the day we often use: in the morning, in the
afternoon, in the evening
We use "to" to say times before the hour from
31 minutes until the full hour
We can also just say the numbers in groups of
two. Example: It's seven twenty-five
Be careful! In English we use at night NOT in
the night

To tell someone what the time is, we can say "The time is..." or, more usually, "It's...". Here is a
typical dialogue:
Question: What's the time, please?
Answer: It's three o'clock.

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The chart below shows you two different ways to tell someone what the time is.

More formal Less formal

It’s... It’s...
3.00 three o'clock Three
3.02 just gone three o'clock three oh two
3.03 three minutes past three three oh three
3.05 five past three three oh five
3.09 nine minutes past three three oh nine
3.10 ten past three three ten
3.15 a quarter past three three fifteen
3.20 twenty past three three twenty
3.21 twenty-one minutes past three three twenty-one
3.25 twenty-five past three three twenty-five
3.30 half past three three thirty
3.35 twenty-five to four three thirty-five
3.40 twenty to four three forty
3.45 a quarter to four three forty-five
3.50 ten to four three fifty
3.55 five to four three fifty-five
3.57 three minutes to four three fifty-seven
3.58 nearly four c'clock three fifty-eight

Timetable
When reading the timetable we use the 0-24 hour-format and we read from left to right.
For example:
The train leaves at 17:00 = The train leaves at seventeen hundred.
The flight is at 8:10 = The flight is at eight ten.
Our English lesson is at 15:45 = Our English lesson is at fifteen forty-five.

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