It is working in the denary (or ten) scale of notation, a system undoubtedly derived from the fact that our forefathers who devised it had ten fingers upon which they were accustomed to count, like our children of to-day.
It is unnecessary for us ordinarily to state that we are using the denary scale, because this is always understood in the common affairs of life.
Thus, on the denary system (S 16) we can give independent definitions to the numbers up to ten, and then regard (e.
Finger-counting is of course natural to children, and leads to grouping into fives, and ultimately to an understanding of thedenary system of notation.
Over a large part of the civilized world the introduction of the metric system (S 118) has caused the notation of all numerical quantities to be in the denary scale.
The use of the denary scale in notation is due to its use in numeration (S 18); this again being due (as exemplified by the use of the word digit) to the primitive use of the fingers for counting.
The notation is then said to be in the scale of which ten is the base, or in the denary scale.
In consequence of this limitation of the power of perception of number, it is practically impossible to use a pure denary scale in elementary number-teaching.
In other words, the denary scale, though adopted in notation and in numeration, does not arise in the corresponding mental concept until we get beyond 100.
Although numeration and notation are both ostensibly on the denary system, they are not always exactly parallel.
But the system has never spread; and the word "dozen" itself is based on the denary scale.
The names of numbers are almost wholly based on the denary scale; thus eighteen means eight and ten, and twenty-four means twice ten and four.
Within each denomination, however, thedenary notation is employed exclusively, e.
The numeration was in the denary scale, so that it did not agree absolutely with the notation.
The denary (about fifteen cents) was a third more than the daily pay of a Roman soldier.
Among the Tartars and Thibetians, the signs of the denary cycle are expressed by the names of the five elements repeated twice, or by the names of the five colours with their shades.
The Thibetians have adopted the use of the denary and duodenary cycles.
The above list will hopefully give you a few useful examples demonstrating the appropriate usage of "denary" in a variety of sentences. We hope that you will now be able to make sentences using this word.
