tlhIngan-Hol Archive: Sat Jan 24 21:56:53 1998
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Re: mathematics
- From: "Qermaq" <[email protected]>
- Subject: Re: mathematics
- Date: Sun, 25 Jan 1998 01:01:16 -0500
tu'wI', bIchu''a'? naDev SoHmo' jIbel.
ghItlh tu'wI':
>How would I express decimal places, fractions, and math operations (+, -,
/,
>*) in Klingon? Are there verbs for the operations, or guidelines for math
>problems?\
Decimal point is <vI'> (KGT). How it's used is not something I'm sure of,
but it's probably similar to how coordinates are used. <wej vI' wa' loS wa'
vagh Hut> is pi to 5 decimal places.
Fractions - we have <bID> = half (n), but we've never seen it used in
canon. I suspect it would be like <latlh>. <be'pu' chaH bID SuvwI''e'> is
probably "Half the warriors are women." Whether there are words for "third",
"quarter", etc. is unknown. The fraction words are mostly identical to the
ordinals in English, but this is unlikely in Klingon. You could say <pagh
vI' cha' vagh> for "one-fourth", but there's probably a better way we
haven't learned.
Mathematics - I don't have access to my old HolQeD's - perhaps one of the
other listers can supply the information which was speculated in a back
issue. (Maybe 3rd or 4th year?)
There is <chel> = add (v), but is this like "I add a hat to the pile" or
"Variety adds spice to life" or "He adds the numbers together"? All
different senses of "add" - no canon to guide us. Same with <wav> divide
(v). We simply lack vocabulary for really concise figuring of math problems.
But the HolQeD article I recall had some clever ways around that.
Summary - there's nothing really known for certain on how Klingons work with
numbers. Perhaps they have a shorthand system like we do - "Two plus three
is five" might be <tay'chugh cha' wej je, vagh tu'lu'>, but that and any
other guesses we might make are no more than that - guesses.
I suspect there are characters in the native Klingon writing system which
represent numbers. Formulas and such might have a formalized form in the
native system, but I think if we want to express a calculation in Klingon
writing, using our formula conventions is acceptable. A new recruit on a
small ship might have it explained thusly:
cha'maH cha loS DuSmey je DIghaj. *20/4=5* 'e' wISovmo', vaghlogh loS peng
DIbaHlaH.
Qermaq