19
votes
Roman numerals used for ordinals
I have never seen someone write "IIIrd" or "Vth". In addition to being (subjectively) ugly, it is basically unheard of.
We write "the XXIII Olympiad" and pronounce it as "the 23rd Olympiad".
We ...
14
votes
Accepted
How to speak the line number?
Assuming it's known I'm talking about code, I would simply say:
On line seventeen.
If not, let's say I'm discussing a piece of software, I would qualify the sentence:
On line seventeen of the ...
11
votes
Accepted
Use of degree symbol for Latinate ordinal number shorthand
This is an ordinal indicator.
In written languages, an ordinal indicator is a character, or group of characters, following a numeral denoting that it is an ordinal number, rather than a cardinal ...
5
votes
Accepted
How do I write a variable as an ordinal number?
Use italics for mathematical variables. Nth or rth. You can also sometimes see superscripts, Nth or rth.
3
votes
Accepted
How do ordinal suffixes work with mathematical constants and other non-Arabic numbers?
In English orthography, there are four ordinal indicators: st, nd, rd for 1, 2, and 3, and th for all the rest, including variables or unreal numbers. Writing the indicator as a superscript, with or ...
3
votes
Why not elevenst, twelvend, and thirteenrd?
It does not depend on whether the ones digit is a 1, 2, or 3; it depends on whether the number is pronounced with a "one", "two", or "three" at the end. Eleven, twelve, ...
3
votes
Accepted
What comes after (Primary,unary),(secondary,binary),(tertiary,ternary),...?
Logically it should be "quartary" because the Latin is
"third" = "tertius"; "fourth" = "quartus"
In the first, we deleted the "us," hence "quartary."
I can see a 1773 publication in the search ...
3
votes
Accepted
Is it correct to say -1th or -1st?
Should I say "negative oneth index" or "negative first index"?
You should say neither.
Which one is grammatically correct?
Neither is correct usage. They're probably grammatically correct in the ...
3
votes
Ordinal form of negative numbers (especially -1, -2, -3)
Ordinal terms are never used in the negative. You might get the meaning across if you said "first minus, second minus etc" but this is abnormal.
"Oneth" is not an accepted ordinal term however ...
3
votes
Why is the English word 'second' latin based but other numbers aren't?
EtymOnline explains what happened in their entry for "second":
Replaced native other in this sense because of the ambiguousness of the earlier word.
Of course, we still have "other" (but it is no ...
2
votes
Accepted
Is vigenary a real word?
Vigenary is marked by the OED as rare, but the alternative vicenary is not so marked.
Vicenary ... adj. ‘Belonging to twenty’ (Bailey, 1727); based on the number twenty. Cf. vigenary adj.
a1831 ...
2
votes
Is vigenary a real word?
Probably not. Vigesimal is a word, but the series primary, secondary, tertiary… seems to cover only numbers from 1 to 10 and 12:
https://en.oxforddictionaries.com/explore/what-comes-after-primary-...
2
votes
Accepted
Natural way of asking for ordinal position in athletic events
I would ask the simple question
What's your position in the jumping event?
This avoids the tricky question
Do you know your position in the jumping event?
which some people might answer with "...
2
votes
Accepted
Uppercase ordinal numbers
The usual answer is to consult the style guide of your organisation.
There is an online tool you can use to help with title capitalisation, but it only deals with the capitalisation of the first ...
2
votes
Accepted
Primary, secondary, tertiary, etc... - what is the -ary for the etc? The nth-ary?
primary
secondary
tertiary
quaternary
quinary
senary
septenary
octonary
nonary
If you want to coin the term "anthary," you're a bit late:
By the way, your beef with "ancillary" seems unwarranted ...
2
votes
What comes after (Primary,unary),(secondary,binary),(tertiary,ternary),...?
Here is something I was able to discover on the internet the prime time I confronted the same predicament as you.
1st = primary
2nd = secondary
3rd = tertiary
4th = quaternary
5th = quinary
6th = ...
2
votes
Accepted
Number vs. no. vs. # in scientific papers?
Use "Item 2", not "Item number 2" (and not No. or № or #). Similarly use "Figure 4" not "Figure number 4", and "Paragraph 3" not "Paragraph ...
2
votes
Should we superscript ordinal numbers?
The difference is a pure matter of style . Writing the 'th' in miniature as superscript is a long-established convention, used, I imagine, to create a visible distinction between between the written ...
2
votes
Accepted
When defining the median for an odd number of measurements, should we use [(n+1)/2]th or [(n+1)/2]nd?
An educational article from the relevant Singapore Government Agency website has
' ... the (n+1)/2 -th term'
and I'm sure other texts will follow this practice (though I'd prefer the th as a ...
1
vote
Is there a word that is specific to a number being divisible specifically by 5?
For something evenly divisible by five, I suggest quinquesectable, from quinquesect.
Definition from Wiktionary:
v.
quinquesect
(transitive, mathematics) To divide (a quantity, angle etc.) into five ...
1
vote
Do we hyphen ordinal numbers written in letters?
(1) The verb is hyphenate, not hyphen.
(2) Hyphenation is not performed on compounds depending on what the words of the compound are. Hyphenation is performed on compounds depending on how the ...
1
vote
What is the proper number formatting for a legal document from the Supreme court?
A book was published in 2016 called The Supreme Court’s Style Guide.
https://www.amazon.com/Supreme-Courts-Style-Guide/dp/099111633X
The Court’s opinions as released to the public are final decisions, ...
1
vote
How exactly is "another" an ordinal number? Please give examples
I assume this is what is meant by "ordinal number"
OED:
I. A second, further, additional.
1. One more, one further; originally a second of two things; subsequently extended to anything ...
1
vote
Pronunciation of numbers in address
Always a cardinal, with no article. Pronounce it as "at twelve Oxford Street".
1
vote
Articles before ordinal numbers
As Lawrence said in a comment, the use of the is not affected much by the presence of an ordinal number. The same rules about when to use "the" apply to noun phrases with ordinals and without them, ...
1
vote
Accepted
How to use Ordinals with Numeric Date Ranges
According to "Grammar Girl"
When you're writing out a date like January 1, 2016 (in the American style), the day is written as a cardinal number. So you should never write January 1st, 2016. The ...
1
vote
Should I write "one of 2 things", "1 of 2 things" or "One of two things"
I agree with, and routinely use, the "all numbers less than or equal to ten are written out" rule to which you refer; in my profession (technical writing) we routinely number procedural steps with ...
1
vote
What comes after (Primary,unary),(secondary,binary),(tertiary,ternary),...?
I think this was an etymological error by the French geologist Jules Desnoyer in Annales des sciences naturelles in 1829. He considered the five periods described by Charles Lyell, then proposed new ...
1
vote
Accepted
How to properly use the "second" ordinal number with the "second" time unit?
In writing, you can take advantage of the differences in writing the two:
Look at the 2nd second of the video.
Look at the second sec. of the video.
Look at second #2 of the video.
If, in context, ...
1
vote
Accepted
Sice, cinque, cater, trey, deuce, ace, and then?
The question might be paraphrased:
Complete the pattern with a word that played a parallel historical role:
count: three, two, one, zero
rank: third, second, first, zeroth
dice: trey, ...
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