Universal #1316

Legacy number: 1316

 Number  1312
 Original  Every minuend is a base of the system or a multiple of the base.
 Standardized  In numeral systems, every minuend is a base of the system or a multiple of the base.
 Keywords  numeral
 Domain  word formation
 Type  unconditional
 Status  achronic
 Quality  statistical
 Basis  56 languages mentioned in Greenberg 1978a
 Source  Salzmann 1950: 82; Greenberg 1978a: 260 (#15)

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Discussion
Counterexamples
Zapotec (Oto-Manguean), since in the expression of 57 (60+2)-5 the minuend 62 is not a base or a multiple of a base. In Arikara (Caddoan), 7 is (8-1), 9 (10-1) and 11 is (12-1) in a decimal system. The exceptions here are 7 and 11. In Montagnais (Athabaskan), 7 is expressed as either (10-3) or (8-1) (mentioned in Greenberg 1978a).
Notes
The subtrahend is the number subtracted, the minuend the number from which subtraction takes place, and the remainder is the result.
Comment
Frans Plank · 3 Aug 2006
The SUBSTRAHEND is the number subtracted, the minuend the number from which subtraction takes place, and the remainder is the result.