It seems like the system is no longer used in mathematics classrooms in Alaska, but is used for teaching numbers in the Iñupiaq language (where it no doubt emphasises the fact that mathematics existed in their culture before European settlement). Wikipedia claims benefits for arithmetic if Kaktovik numerals are used, but I have seen no studies on that (improved test scores for the school in 1997 may simply reflect the talent of this particular cohort of nine students). 0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, A, B, C, D, E, F, G, H, I, J) would not match the language in the same way – and, as noted by the students, could cause confusion. This structure matches the spoken language, in that, for example, the number 17 is spoken as akimiaq malġuk (“fifteen-two”). Like Maya numerals and Babylonian cuneiform numerals, they have internal structure, so that, for example, 17 is written as 3 × 5 + 2. The Kaktovik numerals were invented in the 1990s by nine middle school students at Harold Kaveolook school in Kaktovik, Alaska. So, in Europe, did the ancient Celts, and their base-20 system survives in English in the phrase “four score and seven years ago” and in French in numbers like vingt = 20 and quatre-vingts = 80. ancient Maya and Dzongkha), the Iñupiat count in 20s. Like a number of cultures around the world (e.g. They were added to the Unicode standard last year. Kaktovik numerals (above) are a base-20 numeral system used by the Iñupiat people in northern Alaska.
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