The Suzhou numerals, also known as ' (), is a numeral system used in China before the introduction of Hindu-Arabic numerals. The Suzhou numerals are also known as Soochow numerals, ma‑tzu, ' (), ' (),

thumb|Suzhou numerals on banquet invoices issued by restaurants circa 1910–1920s. Although the invoices use [[Horizontal and vertical writing in East Asian scripts|traditional right-to-left vertical writing, the Suzhou numerals recording the amounts are written horizontally from left to right.]]

For example:

{| border="0" style="text-align: center; border: 1px solid #dddddd; margin-left: 1.5em;"

| || || ||

|-

| ||

|}

The first line contains the numerical values, in this example, "" stands for "4022". The second line consists of Chinese characters that represents the order of magnitude and unit of measurement of the first digit in the numerical representation. In this case "" which stands for "ten yuan". When put together, it is then read as "40.22 yuan".

thumb|Suzhou numerals on a market in [[Wan Chai]]

thumb|A menu with prices in Suzhou numerals in a Hong Kong restaurant

thumb|Two [[magic squares in Suzhou numerals in a 19th-century Chinese Catholic journal]]

Possible characters denoting order of magnitude include:

  • wàn (<span class="nounderlines"></span>) for myriads (As a variant of the traditional character , it is used for speed of writing in Suzhou numerals even before simplification of Chinese characters.)
  • qiān (<span class="nounderlines"></span>) for thousands
  • bǎi (<span class="nounderlines"></span>) for hundreds
  • shí (<span class="nounderlines"></span>) for tens
  • blank for ones

Other possible characters denoting unit of measurement include:

  • yuán (<span class="nounderlines"></span>) for dollar
  • máo (<span class="nounderlines"> or </span>) for 10 cents
  • lǐ (<span class="nounderlines"></span>) for the Chinese mile
  • any other Chinese measurement unit

Notice that the decimal point is implicit when the first digit is set at the ten position. Zero is represented by the character for zero (). Leading and trailing zeros are unnecessary in this system.

This is very similar to the modern scientific notation for floating point numbers where the significant digits are represented in the mantissa and the order of magnitude is specified in the exponent. Also, the unit of measurement, with the first digit indicator, is usually aligned to the middle of the "numbers" row.

thumb|500px|center| Several examples of the pricing values present in Suzhou numerals.

Hangzhou misnomer

In the Unicode standard version 3.0, these characters are incorrectly named Hangzhou style numerals. In the Unicode standard 4.0, an erratum was added which stated:

All references to "Hangzhou" in the Unicode standard have been corrected to "Suzhou" except for the character names themselves, which cannot be changed once assigned, in accordance with the Unicode Stability Policy. (This policy allows software to use the names as unique identifiers.)

See also

  • Unicode numerals

References