- Each new person placed himself towards your left in the rank opposite to you. Now rule columns as in the next page, and to the right of them all place in words the number which you wish to represent; in
the first column on the right, place the number of fingers which the first man will be holding up when that number of yards has been measured. In the next column, place the fingers which the second man will then be holding up; and so on.
| 7th. | 6th. | 5th. | 4th. | 3rd. | 2nd. | 1st. | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| I. | 5 | 7 | fifty-seven | |||||
| II. | 1 | 0 | 4 | one hundred and four. | ||||
| III. | 1 | 1 | 0 | one hundred and ten. | ||||
| IV. | 2 | 3 | 4 | 8 | two thousand three hundred | |||
| and forty-eight. | ||||||||
| V. | 1 | 5 | 9 | 0 | 6 | fifteen thousand nine | ||
| hundred and six. | ||||||||
| VI. | 1 | 8 | 7 | 0 | 0 | 4 | one hundred and eighty-seven | |
| thousand and four. | ||||||||
| VII. | 3 | 6 | 9 | 7 | 2 | 8 | 5 | three million, six hundred and |
| ninety-seven thousand, | ||||||||
| two hundred and eighty-five. |
- In I. the number fifty-seven is expressed. This means (5) five tens and seven. The first has therefore counted all his fingers five times, and has counted seven fingers more. This is shewn by five fingers of the second man being held up, and seven of the first. In II. the number one hundred and four is represented. This number is (5) ten tens and four. The second person has therefore just reckoned all his fingers once, which is denoted by the third person holding up one finger; but he has not yet begun again, because he does not hold up a finger until the first has counted ten, of which ten only four are completed. When all the last-mentioned ten have been counted, he then holds up one finger, and the first being ready to begin again, has no fingers extended, and the number obtained is eleven tens, or ten tens and one ten, or one hundred and ten. This is the case in III. You will now find no difficulty with the other numbers in the table.
- In all these numbers a figure in the first column stands for only as many yards as are written under that figure in (6). A figure in the second column stands, not for as many yards, but for as many tens of yards; a figure in the third column stands for as many hundreds of yards; in the fourth column for as many thousands of yards; and so on:
that is, if we suppose a figure to move from any column to the one on its left, it stands for ten times as many yards as before. Recollect this, and you may cease to draw the lines between the columns, because each figure will be sufficiently well known by the place in which it is; that is, by the number of figures which come upon the right hand of it.