Chapter 12 Numbers
Building numbers
A number is digits counting units, largest unit first, remainder after, and nothing else:
| Number | Phi | Reading |
|---|---|---|
| 3 | ta shao | one three-group |
| 4 | ta shao ta | one three-group and one |
| 5 | ta shao wi | one three-group and two |
| 6 | wi shao | two three-groups |
| 7 | wi shao ta | two three-groups and one |
| 9 | ta phoi | one nine-group |
| 14 | ta phoi ta shao wi | a nine, a three, and two |
No conjunction joins the parts. ta phoi ta shao wi reads from left to right: one nine-group, one three-group, then two units. The larger place arrives before the smaller one.
A scale appears at most once, scales descend from largest to smallest, and only ta or wi may count a scale. A zero coefficient is shown by leaving that scale out: 82 is ta rei ta, not a form containing mu. Standalone mu still means exactly zero.
The named scales set a finite exact range. The longest canonical numeral is wi rei wi lau wi phoi wi shao wi (242). Phi does not recursively count groups of rei; 243 and larger exact values remain source material outside the Phi passage. A speaker can instead choose a bare scale or a quantifier when approximate magnitude is sufficient.
A useful practice pairs spoken numbers with quantities arranged in equal triads. Ordered counting helps recall, but fluent understanding also needs shuffled work: hearing a form and identifying its magnitude, then seeing a quantity and producing its form. Automaticity has no fixed number of examples, and decimal-conversion speed is not the measure of Phi fluency.