What If We Rename the Numbers?

We are so good at counting we forget how difficult it is to learn – unless you teach the younger grades and hear “five-teen” on a regular basis. Or, maybe you speak another language with more logic built it, like the teen numbers in Armenian, for example.

In order to appreciate this challenge let’s imagine how we might rename numbers in a more logical fashion. I’m going to focus on numbers 11-99, but you can see how single digit numbers can be confusing as well:

First, the dreaded “teen numbers.” We could adjust 11, 12, 13, and 15 to match the format of 14, 16, 17, 18, and 19. Now, instead of “twelve” (no indication of ten or two), we could change it to “two-teen,” similar to the logic of “seven-teen.”

With this change the order of the number words still doesn’t match the written order, so “two-teen” could be confused with 21. We could change it to start with the tens place like most 2-digit numbers (“sixty-four” for example).  Now, we might say “ten-two” for 12.

Since the suffix “-ty” signifies groups of tens (“sixty” is six groups of ten), we could also use the words “onety-one,” “onety-two,” and so on. To continue that logic, we could also adjust a few 2-digit number names:

One of those is already “correct,” of course, but over time our ear could adjust to the sweet logical sound of “threety” too. 32? No, I meant threety, also (Grrrr! Single-digit number names!).

The prospect of changing number names may only be a fantasy – the US still has yet to adopt the metric system. What if we gave students more of a say? How would they name the numbers and what would they notice is both logical and illogical about our system?

More resources:

Questions to Consider:

  • What other numbers would you rename? What about fraction names?
  • What can we learn from the number names of other languages?
  • How can we invite students to make sense of the number names and patterns?