Converting from base 10 Arabic numbers to base 25 D�ni numbers.

To best view this page, you'll at least need the D'ni Script font. (This font is from http://linguists.riedl.org/old/linguists.htm).

The Sirona font will help too. To speed up the calculation process, you can download a Lotus 123 or Excel spreadsheet to do the conversion calculations for you.

Remember, when you read an Arabic number, such as 9,876, that it consists of 9 in the 1,000s place, 8 in the 100s, 7 tens, and 6 ones. The digits in base 10 represent the ten numerical quantities from 0 through 9. Each place value is the base raised to the power of the column. The "power" tells you how many times the base is multiplied by itself; i.e. the 3^rd place base 10 value is 10³ = 10x10x10=1,000. Any number to the zeroth power is 1, as in the right-most column below. Write out your place column values, largest values at the left.

Similarly, for a D�ni number in base 25, each place in a number can hold a digit representing quantities from 0 through 24. The process for figuring the place values is the same as above, except using 25 instead of 10. For example, the D�ni 3^rd place value will be 25³ = 25x25x25 = 15,625

You can continue these place value columns as far to the left as you need (i.e base to the fifth power, then to the sixth and so on) depending on how large a number you�re converting.

To express a number in D�ni digits, we need to figure out how many 1s, 25s, 625s, 15625s and so on that the number consists of. Each of those values will then become a D�ni digit representing that numerical quantity. } is D�ni 24, the largest value you can represent with a single digit (ignoring for the moment the "shorthand" for 25, ; ). For 25, you string together a 1 in the 25s place and a zero in the 1s place ( 1  :   ), just the way Arabic numbers use 10 to mean "one ten and no ones."

Your conversion begins in the leftmost column where the place value is less than your number. For example, let�s convert Arabic 9,876 (base 10) into D�ni base 25.

Let�s start at the power 3 column. Is 15,625 < 9,876? No, so move right to the power 2 column.

Is 625 < 9,876? Yes, so we start the conversion here.

Divide 9,876 by 625, the place value for power column 2. The result, 15.8016, tells us two things:

1. There are 15 "625"s in 9,876, (15 x 625 = 9,375 which is < 9,876), so a D�ni �15� digit goes in the 625s place.
2. There's a remainder of 9,876 - 9,375 = 501.

In summary, so far, 9,876 = (15 x 625) + 501. We next need to break 501 down into 25s and 1s.

Move to the next power column, power 1, and continue the calculation using the remainder (501) from (2) above.

Divide 501 by 25 (=20.04)

1. There are 20 "25"s in 501, (20 x 25 = 500), so a D�ni �20� digit goes in the 25s place

2. There's a remainder of 501 - 500 = 1, so 1 will go in the 1s place. 

In summary 9,876 = (15 x 625) + (20 x 25) + 1.

 So, 9,876 in D�ni consists of the digits for 15, 20, and 1, or %  )  1

Here�s another example, converting 297,056 to D�ni, We will start at the power 3 column, since 15,626 < 297,056. We first divide 297,056 by 15,625, the place value for power column 3. The result, 19.011584, tells us:

1. There are 19 "15,625"s in 297,056, (19 x 15,625 = 296,875), so a D�ni �19� digit goes in the 15,625s place.
2. There's a remainder of 297,056 - 296,875 = 181.

So far 297,056 = (19 x 15,625) + 181. We next need to determine the digit for the 625s place.

But 625 is not less than 181. Said another way, there are no 625s in 181. So the 625s place gets a 0:
297,056 = (19 x 15,625) + (0 x 625) + 181.

Move right to the 25s column and continue the calculation using 181. Divide 181 by 25 (=7.24).

1. There are 7 "25"s in 181, (7x25=175), so a D�ni �7� digit goes in the 25s place.
2. There's a remainder of 181-175=6, so 6 will go in the 1s place.

In summary 297,056 = (19 x 15,625) + (0 x 625) + (7 x 25) + 6.

So, 297,056 in D�ni is (  :  7  6

September 13, 2005