Our current 0–9 numeral system has never made sense to me, especially the location of the numbers when gridded including the unusual use of the number 0 in differing contexts. Even though I am a ‘numbers guy’ I always thought there was room for improvement.
After celebrating my wife’s and my 2nd wedding anniversary, we drove 2-hours back from Santa Barbara to Los Angeles and I decided to create what had been on my mind for many years, an improved numeral system.
By the time we got home, I had already removed and replaced the ‘10’ with a new symbol Δ. With some more critiquing and staying up past midnight (which is very late for me) I had decided to remove the ‘teens’ including the outdated ‘eleven and twelve’.
I pulled forward the ‘twenties’ (I could never make sense of why they were third) and then added an additional row at the end for the new numeral Δ.
This created the perfect symmetry for a numeral square - See below.
A Side by Side comparison:
There are two key changes:
- An entirely new number (digit) has been created, displayed as Δ
- The “teens” have been removed and replaced by pulling forward the “twenties” and each row of numbers thereafter.
This allows all characters to now be in perfect alignment creating symmetry and simplicity, which is easier for everyone to learn, calculate, and master.
Perfect symmetry is carried on throughout all number grids, including the; hundreds, thousands, millions, etc.
This new numeral square also leaves the whole numbers where they are currently, for example 20 is in the same location as 2Δ. Rather than representing the first number of the series as does 20, the number 2Δ now represents the last number in the series, also meaning 21 now represents the first number rather than the second (that makes sense right?!).
I like to think of this new ‘direct-decimal’ numeral system as a ‘common sense’ system. It makes mathematics much easier for everyone and draws it’s format from a holistic point of view, compared to the old numeral system which evolved slowly over thousands of years and has outdated fragments that do not make sense when looking at it afresh.
Please, let me know your honest thoughts. I love constructive criticism.
Ps, please note that this is a flawed system, great in looks and ideology, however, not practical due to removing the teen’s flaws the systems ability to calculate correctly. This post is to get people thinking, and hopefully someone is able to contribute to this solution.
-Trent Revic
