Basic Numbers and Math for EFL/ESL Students,

Page 1, American version

by Nick Miller


Numbers are a very important part of any language. Shopping, a trip to the doctor's, science, and a wide variety of other activities require an understanding of these little characters. For most of our purposes, a small range of numbers is sufficient. However, in the sciences, such as astronomy and physics, a much larger range is needed.


Everyone starts with these one digit numbers:

number cardinal number ordinal number
0 zero.
1 one first
2 two second
3 three third
4 four fourth
5 five fifth
6 six sixth
7 sevenseventh
8 eight eighth
9 nine ninth

Then, we learn the 'teens':

number cardinal number ordinal number
10 ten tenth
11 eleven eleventh
12 twelve twelfth
13thirteen thirteenth
14 fourteenfourteenth
15 fifteen fifteenth
16 sixteen sixteenth
17 seventeen seventeenth
18 eighteen eighteenth
19 nineteen nineteenth

After that, the tens:

number cardinal number ordinal number
20 twentytwentieth
30 thirty thirtieth
40 forty fortieth
50 fifty fiftieth
60 sixtysixtieth
70 seventy seventieth
80 eighty eightieth
90 ninety ninetieth

And finally, the common Œbig numbersı :

number cardinal number ordinal number
100hundred hundredth
1,000 thousand thousandth
10,000 ten thousand ten thousandth
100,000 hundred thousand hundred thousandth
1,000,000 million millionth
10,000,000 ten million ten millionth
100,000,000 hundred million hundred millionth
1,000,000,000 billion billionth

Scientists (and trivia buffs) might be interested in this list of 'really big numbers' :

number cardinal number a hint to help remember
10E12 trilliontri as in triplets
10E15 quadrillionquad as in quadruplets
10E18 quintillionquint as in quintuplets
10E21 sextillionsex as in sextuplets
10E24 septillionsept as in September
10E27 octillionoct as in October
10E30 nonillionnon as in November
10E33 decilliondec as in December
10E100 googol .
10E(10E100) googolplex.


What's next (all are short introductions to these topics, useful for English Language learners and young native speakers) :

See this page for the British version

Decimals and fractions

American / Metric conversions

Basic Arithmetic Terms

U$ Money

Understanding Currency Exchange

Shopping Math

Math in School

Other fun number facts

NOTE: If you get an under construction message, please try again in a month or so. I am still working on them.



(c)1996 by Nicholas Miller

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