kingdomdressing | (no subject)

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namine

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[Nami is happily heading toward a place some people would probably avoid. he's going to meet with the naga Axel, toting with him a few fresh sketchbooks and a bag of small wooden blocks. the idea of being able to help someone in a way that has nothing to do with his powers is definitely something nice, and he's looking forward to being able to help his friend regardless. today it's numbers, and maybe a bit of math~.]

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It's a good way to learn, but there are a lot of things, especially things humans have made, that require more than just watching.

[nodnod. he knows that much just from being around humans, even in such limited amounts before now.]

Humansss are quite complicated that way, but I do not mind. I enjoy learning about thessse more complexss things.

So I guess to start... how high can you count?

[because it may help him figure out where to begin teaching.]

[he reaches for the blocks again, counting out loud one by one as he pulls half a dozen blocks into their own pile; the words come slowly to him, with longer pauses the further away from "one" and "two" he gets. obviously these are not words he uses often, even mentally.]

They taught uss thingsss higher than that, but it wasss only oncsse, and none of uss ever had mucssh usse for the larger numberss.

Understandable. We'll work from what you know.

[he makes a few sets of ten with the blocks, lining them up neatly.]

Numbers are actually fairly easy to remember once you get the hang of it. There are really only about ten numbers, which is how many blocks are in each set. When you get higher than that, each number just uses two or more from the first set.

[he looks at the sets of blocks, touching the nearest ones and counting silently with his fingers; he makes it past six this time, slowly. apparently Nami mentioning the number ten allowed him to remember the things in between, at least partially.]

Ssso... how many combinationsss of numbersss are there?

[fyi he's imagining "a lot", as in "there sure are a lot of antelope in that migratory herd". :|b]

More than most people can actually recite. Numbers go on infinitely; there's no end to them. But you don't need to learn that many.

Why are that many necessssary? It sssoundss more complicated than it needsss to be, in my opinion.

[not that he sounds discouraged from the idea, just curious. there's a limit to how much of this his brain can handle, though; if Nami tried to explain, say, algebra to him, he'd probably just be like "oh look a squirrel!" and wander away.]

It's not really that they're necessary... it's just that they are. The words for numbers are man-made, but numbers themselves exist in everything. How many hairs are on our heads, how many scales are on your tail, how many stars there are in the sky. It's not necessary to count them, but that doesn't mean there isn't an exact number anyway.

Oh. That makesss more ssenssse. What comess after ten, then?

[here's where he'll start to get confused again; in the grand arrangement of numbers, 11-19 don't really fit the pattern.]

Well... a few of the numbers after ten don't make as much sense as the rest of them.

[he moves a block next to the group of ten, and continues to do so every time he says a new number.]

There's eleven, twelve - you can hear the 'two' in that one, at least - thirteen... fourteen... fifteen... sixteen... seventeen... eighteen... nineteen... and twenty!

...you are right, thossse do not make mucssh ssensse. What do thossse look like? I have only ssseen a few of them written, perhapsss they would be more logical that way.

[he is actually spot on with that, seeing that 11-19 are really just 10 + another number will help him immensely, although it's still two different concepts to learn at the same time.]

It definitely is.

[time to write out the numbers one to twenty so Axel can see how it works.]

[he watches as Nami writes them, comprehension dawning on his face.]

Ohhh. Yesss, that makess ssensse now. Ssso... twenty iss two of ten, sso it sstartss with a two but hasss the O from the ten?

[whoops explaining zero and why numbers increase in the number of digits as they go up may be a little more difficult. :|a]

The O is actually something called a zero. The zero on its own is the equivalent of nothing. So if you had zero of something, you wouldn't have any of it at all. But yes, that's otherwise correct.

[whaaaaaat. the comprehension gives way to a frown of concentration as he tries to wrap his head around that notion.]

...sso then the numbersss before twenty are ten plusss the other number, and then twenty iss two tenss pluss nothing elsse.

Yes, but once you've got it memorized that zeroes attach to the number after the ones that end in nine, you don't really have to think about them. After twenty, they go along in a similar way, except this time there's a two in front. The numbers are a lot easier to understand after that. Twenty-one, twenty-two, twenty-three...

[he's nodding now; this is making more sense to him!]

I ssee now. What sssort of thingss are these larger numberss ussed for, though?

People, supplies, that sort of thing. It's not as often used for things like cooking, unless you're cooking for a lot of people.

Ahh. Ssso thesse ssmaller numberss will be of more usse to me than the larger oness.

[he looks so super pleased that he's learning this stuff, you have no idea.]

Much more use, yes. I doubt you'll ever have a need for the higher numbers, actually.

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