> 26 Update properties for Ethiopic and Tamil non-decimal digits > 2003.01.27 Decimal numbers are those using in decimal-radix number > systems. In particular, the sequence of the ONE character followed by the > TWO character is interpreted as having the value of twelve. We have gotten > feedback that this is the not the case for Ethiopic or Tamil. Details are > on the public issues page. Comments I've submitted:
PRI#26: It is my understanding that Ethiopic numerals do not use a decimal radix. Most sources describing Ethiopic script will list the characters representing tens, 100 and 10000. The existence of these characters, which are not combinations made from sequences of digits for 0 - 9, already indicates that this is not a decimal-radix system. Traditionally, each syllabic character has a numeric value associated. This is described on page 8 of http://www.intelligirldesign.com/paper_gabriella.pdf, which shows Arabic decimal values, and http://www.library.cornell.edu/africana/Writing_Systems/Numeric.html, which shows traditional Ethiopic numerals. By comparison of these two documents, one can get an idea of how the numbers work. The following are some other useful discussions of Ethiopic numbering: http://www.geez.org/Numerals/ http://www.abyssiniacybergateway.net/fidel/sera-faq_4.html http://www.ethiopic.com/ethiopic/numerals.pdf The last of these proposes the addition of a digit 0 in order to allow decimal-radix numbers in Ethiopic. I have no idea whether this has caught on at all or not, but it is not the traditional system. Peter Peter Constable Globalization Infrastructure and Font Technologies Microsoft Windows Division
