History: BPFK Section: Inexact Numbers

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Proposed definitions

su'o (PA)

Definition

At least (one). Some.

See Also

Keywords

Examples

so'e lo ponjo jugle'u cu lerfu fi su'o re lo se bacru
Most Japanese kanji have at least two pronunciations.

su'e (PA)

Definition

At most (one).

See Also

Keywords

Examples

la cibyska cu se kelci su'e bi remna
Tricolor is played by at most eight people.

za'u (PA)

Definition

More than (one).

See Also

Keywords

Examples

ko za'u re'u troci
Try again!

me'i (PA)

Definition

Less than (all). Not all.

See Also

Keywords

Examples

me'i gerku cu klama lo cevzda
Not all dogs go to heaven.

ji'i (PA)

Definition

Approximately.

See Also

Keywords

Examples

ji'i xa pi xa gigdo be lo remna cu xabju la terdi
Approximately 6.6 billion humans inhabit the Earth.

ro (PA)

Definition

Each. All. Every.

See Also

Keywords

Examples

lo srasu ro roi ri'ozma ze'o lo bitmu
The grass is always greener on the other side of the fence.

da'a (PA)

Definition

All except (one).

See Also

Keywords

Examples

da'a drata cu ci pa mei
All but one of the others are thirty-one-somes.

so'a (PA)

Definition

Almost all. All but a few.

See Also

Keywords

Examples

do so'a roi lerci
You're almost always late.

so'e (PA)

Definition

Most. All but a significant number.

See Also

Keywords

Examples

ta so'e mei
That's most of them.

so'i (PA)

Definition

Many. A large number.

See Also

Keywords

Examples

mi ba'o cilre so'i da lo xirma lo vi cukta
I have learned a lot about horses from this book.

so'o (PA)

Definition

Several. A significant number.

See Also

Keywords

Examples

so'o lo pendo be mi cu simlu lo ka jinvi lo du'u xamgu sidbo
Several of my friends seem to think it's a good idea.

so'u (PA)

Definition

A few. A small number.

See Also

Keywords

Examples

mi stali lo darno ze'a lo masti be li so'u
I stayed away for a few months.

no'o (PA)

Definition

A vague number. Some number. A certain number.

See Also

Keywords

Examples

ba lo mentu be li no'o lo minji cu sisti
After some number of minutes, the machine stopped.

rau (PA)

Definition

Enough. The right number.

See Also

Keywords

Examples

xu do pu snada lo nu cpacu lo rau kelci
Did you manage to get enough players?

du'e (PA)

Definition

Too many. More than the right number.

See Also

Keywords

Examples

du'e cuntu ka'e fliba
Too many things could go wrong.

mo'a (PA)

Definition

Too few. Less than the right number.

See Also

Keywords

Examples

mi'a mo'a roi casnu lo ckape
We discussed the dangers too few times.

Formal definitions

su'o PA vei na'u zmadu ja dunli PA
su'e PA vei na'u mleca ja dunli PA
za'u PA vei na'u zmadu PA
me'i PA vei na'u mleca PA
ji'i PA vei na'u jibni PA
da'a PA vei na'u se sumji be lo mulno PA
ro vei ni'e mulno
so'a vei ni'e muljbi
so'e vei ni'e xabmau
so'i vei ni'e mutce
so'o vei ni'e milxe
so'u vei ni'e toltce
rau vei ni'e drani
du'e vei ni'e dukse
mo'a vei ni'e toldu'e
no'o vei ni'e co'e

Quantifiers

definite
no pa re ci vo mu xa ze bi ... da'aci da'are da'apa ro
scalar
no [ so'u ] [ so'o ] [ so'i ] [ so'e ] [ so'a ] ro
generic
no [ no'o ] ro
subjective
[ mo'a ] [ rau ] [ du'e ]
ranges
su'o PA
.......................... [PA ............................]
za'u PA
.......................... PA [............................]
su'e PA
[......................... PA] .............................
me'i PA
[.........................] PA .............................
ji'i PA
................... [...... PA ......] ........................

da'a
da'a da'a PA PA
da'a ro no
da'a so'a so'u
da'a so'e so'o
da'a so'i so'i
da'a so'o so'e
da'a so'u so'a
da'a no ro
da'a rau rau
da'a du'e mo'a
da'a mo'a du'e
da'a no'o no'o
da'a su'o PA su'e da'a PA
da'a su'e PA su'o da'a PA
da'a za'u PA me'i da'a PA
da'a me'i PA za'u da'a PA
da'a ji'i PA ji'i da'a PA


Definitions in terms of su'o:
su'o N+1 da zo'u da broda su'o da su'o N de zo'u ge da na du de gi da .e de broda
za'u N da su'o N+1 da
su'e N da naku su'o N+1 da
me'i N da naku su'o N da
N da su'o N da .enai su'o N+1 da
da'a PA da PA da naku


In particular:

no da = me'ipa da = naku su'o da
ro da = da'ano da = no da naku = naku su'o da naku

With restricted da (i.e. da poi broda):
su'o da poi broda cu brode su'o da zo'u da broda gi'e brode
su'o N da poi broda cu brode su'o N da zo'u da broda gi'e brode
za'u N da poi broda cu brode za'u N da zo'u da broda gi'e brode
su'e N da poi broda cu brode su'e N da zo'u da broda gi'e brode
me'i N da poi broda cu brode me'i N da zo'u da broda gi'e brode
N da poi broda cu brode N da zo'u da broda gi'e brode
da'a Q da poi broda cu brode da'a Q da zo'u da broda nagi'a brode

Internal grammar of quantifiers

quantifier proportional / fractional
fractional [prefix] pi (indefinite / definite / prefix)
proportional simple & simple [fi'u (ro & definite) / ce'i]
simple prefix & (indefinite / definite)
prefix da'a & (su'o / su'e / me'i / za'u / ji'i) & da'a
indefinite so'u / so'o / so'i / so'e / so'a / ro / mo'a / rau / du'e / no'o
definite (no / pa / re / ci / vo / mu / xa / ze / bi / so / ki'o) ...


[ ] indicates the enclosed element is optional
... indicates the preceding element may appear one or more times
/ indicates either the preceding or the following element may appear
& indicates the preceding, the following or both elements may appear

Defaults for bare prefix

When a prefix is not followed by a definite or indefinite, a default value is understood: the default is pa for su'o, su'e, za'u and da'a; ro for me'i; and a vague number (perhaps no'o) for ji'i.

Two adjacent simple quantifiers

  • Two adjacent simple quantifiers are interpreted, when possible, as if joined with .e:


ro ci broda
all three brodas, all brodas and three brodas.

rau su'o mu broda
enough at least five brodas, enough brodas and at least five brodas.

su'o ci su'e bi broda
at least three at most eight brodas
at least three brodas and at most eight brodas
between three and eight brodas (inclusive)

  • Two adjacent simple quantifiers are interpreted, when joining them with .e would give a contradiction, as if joined with .a:


me'i ci za'u ci broda
less than three more than three brodas
less than three brodas or more than three brodas
i.e. other than three brodas

mo'a du'e broda
too few too many brodas
too few brodas or too many brodas
the wrong number of brodas

Proportional quantifiers


re fi'u ci broda
Two out of every three brodas.
Two thirds of brodas.

za'u vo fi'u mu broda
More than four out of every five brodas.
More than four fifths of brodas.

du'a fi'u ro muno broda
Too many out of all 50 broda.
Too many broda, of which there are 50 in all.

  • ce'i is equivalent to fi'u panono:


za'u munoce'i broda
More than half of all brodas.

da'a cirepimu ce'i broda
All but 32.5% of brodas.

Fractional quantifiers

piPA sumti lo piPA si'e be sumti


When a sumti has a single referent (which may be a simple individual, a group, a set, etc.) then a fractional quantifier refers to a corresponding fraction of the referent. In particular, a fraction of a group or a set is a subgroup or subset whose cardinality is the corresponding fraction of the cardinality of the whole.

When a sumti has more than one referent (e.g. le ci plise) then a fractional quantifier refers to a fraction of one (which one is not specified) of the referents. Then pimu le ci plise is "half of one of the three apples. Then more generally we can define:

piPA sumti lo piPA si'e be pa me sumti


which will also cover the case of a single referent.

We may then generalize to things like repimu le ci plise for "two and a half of the three apples".

History

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Information Version
Mon 10 of Nov, 2014 22:44 GMT durka42 from 158.130.106.110 29
Mon 10 of Nov, 2014 22:42 GMT durka42 from 158.130.106.110 28
Mon 10 of Nov, 2014 22:40 GMT durka42 from 158.130.106.110 27
Mon 10 of Nov, 2014 22:40 GMT durka42 from 158.130.106.110 fixed negation rule formatting 26
Thu 21 of Aug, 2014 14:30 GMT Ilmen from 95.210.209.219 Adding a couple of word links. 25
Thu 21 of Aug, 2014 14:27 GMT Ilmen from 95.210.209.219 24
Thu 21 of Aug, 2014 14:26 GMT Ilmen from 95.210.209.219 Adding a note. 23
Thu 21 of Aug, 2014 14:21 GMT Ilmen from 95.210.209.219 22
Thu 21 of Aug, 2014 14:20 GMT Ilmen from 95.210.209.219 21
Thu 21 of Aug, 2014 14:19 GMT Ilmen from 95.210.209.219 20
Thu 21 of Aug, 2014 14:18 GMT Ilmen from 95.210.209.219 Word links + keywords 19
Tue 17 of Jun, 2014 21:48 GMT selpa'i from 93.220.99.115 18
Tue 17 of Jun, 2014 21:39 GMT selpa'i from 93.220.99.115 17
Tue 17 of Jun, 2014 21:35 GMT selpa'i from 93.220.99.115 16
Sun 08 of Jun, 2014 19:14 GMT mukti from 216.194.27.154 15
Fri 06 of Jun, 2014 16:40 GMT Ilmen from 213.180.252.213 PA -> PA# 14
Fri 06 of Jun, 2014 16:33 GMT Ilmen from 213.180.252.213 Adding a few more boxes 13
Fri 06 of Jun, 2014 16:29 GMT Ilmen from 213.180.252.213 Reworking the overall formatting 12
Wed 29 of Dec, 2010 07:01 GMT lindarthebard from 32.175.23.84 11
Thu 23 of Dec, 2010 08:59 GMT lindarthebard from 166.135.205.170 10
Thu 09 of Sep, 2010 23:51 GMT xorxes from 186.108.116.39 9
Thu 09 of Sep, 2010 23:32 GMT xorxes from 186.108.116.39 8
Wed 15 of Sep, 2004 16:43 GMT xorxes from 200.49.74.2 7
Wed 15 of Sep, 2004 15:39 GMT xorxes from 200.49.74.2 6
Wed 01 of Sep, 2004 20:44 GMT xorxes from 200.49.74.2 5
Tue 31 of Aug, 2004 19:51 GMT xorxes from 200.49.74.2 4
Tue 31 of Aug, 2004 19:40 GMT xorxes from 200.49.74.2 3
Mon 09 of Aug, 2004 20:39 GMT xorxes from 200.49.74.2 2
Wed 04 of Aug, 2004 19:24 GMT xorxes from 200.49.74.2 1