Myriad
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2008-04-09T00:35:02Z
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'''Myriad''' is a classical [[Greek language|Greek]] name for the [[number]] 10<sup>4</sup> = [[10000 (number)|10,000]]. In modern [[English language|English]] the word refers to an unspecified large quantity.
The term ''myriad'' is a progression in the commonly used system of describing numbers using tens and hundreds. Small numbers are named in terms of number of tens plus the remainder; for example 76 is seven tens plus six. Numbers larger than ten tens require a new description, a hundred. Thus, 1776 is seventeen hundred seventy six. Similarly one hundred hundred is a myriad. A myriad myriad, or one hundred million, was left as the largest named number by the [[Ancient Greeks]] and is also the largest named number in the [[Bible]].
A myriad is primarily a singular cardinal number; just as the "thousand" in "four thousand" is singular (one does not write "four thousands people") the word ''myriad'' is used in the same way: "there are four myriad people outside". When used as a noun, meaning "a large number", it follows the same rules as that phrase. However, that is not the case originally in [[Greek language|Greek]], where there is plural.
In English, the term "myriad" is most commonly used to refer to a large number of an unspecified size. In this way "myriad" can be used as either a noun or an adjective. Thus both "there are myriad people outside" and "There is a myriad of people outside" are correct.
Merriam-Webster notes, "Recent criticism of the use of myriad as a noun, both in the plural form ''myriads'' and in the phrase ''a myriad of'', seems to reflect a mistaken belief that the word was originally and is still properly only an adjective.... however, the noun is in fact the older form, dating to the 16th century. The noun ''myriad'' has appeared in the works of such writers as Milton (plural ''myriads'') and Thoreau (''a myriad of''), and it continues to occur frequently in reputable English. There is no reason to avoid it."<ref>[http://www.webster.com/cgi-bin/dictionary?sourceid=Mozilla-search&va=myriad Merriam Webster online]</ref>
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Conversely, by analogy with 'hundreds (or thousands) of people', 'myriad' can be pluralized for an indefinite number of myriads. In particular, one has a myriad myriad, the largest number named in the [[Bible]]. Note that this rule does not apply to ten, e.g., seventy is 'seven tens' and not 'seven ten,' because multiples of ten have their own special names, twenty, thirty, etc.
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* [[Hebrew language|Hebrew]]: ''revava''
* [[Chinese language|Chinese]]: ''wan4'' [[Mandarin language|Mandarin]] and ''maan6'' [[Cantonese language|Cantonese]] (萬/万)
* [[Japanese language|Japanese]]:''man'' (万/萬)
* [[Korean language|Korean]]: ''man'' (万/만/萬)
Chinese, Japanese and Korean also have words for a myriad squared (100,000,000): ''yi4''(億) or ''wan4wan4''(萬萬) in ancient texts, ''oku'' (億), and ''eok'' (억/億)(pronounced "ohk"), respectively. A myriad cubed (10,000³ or 10<sup>12</sup>) is a ''zhao4'' (兆); ''cho'' (兆); a myriad to the fourth power (10,000<sup>4</sup> or 10<sup>16</sup>) is a ''jing1'' (京); ''kei'' (京). Conversely, Chinese, Japanese and Korean do not have single words for a thousand squared, cubed, etc., unlike English and many other languages of European origin.
The English numbering system divides large numbers into groups of three digits, and so the names for such numbers follow this division (10,000 = ''ten [[1000 (number)|thousand]]''). East Asian numbering divides large numbers into groups of four; so in Chinese, Japanese, or Korean, 30,000 really would be "three myriad" (3 0000 — Japanese ''san-man''). One [[million]] is a [[100 (number)|hundred]] myriad (100 x 10000 instead of 1000 x 1000); the next uniquely named number after a myriad is 億, which is myriad myriad (10000 x 10000) or a hundred million.
Modern Greek still uses the word "myriad" by itself, but also to form the word for million. The word for million is ''ekatommyrio'' (hundred myriad — εκατομμύριο); one [[1 E9|thousand million]] is ''disekatommyrio'' (twice hundred myriad — δισεκατομμύριο).
The largest number named in [[Ancient Greek]] was a myriad myriad and
[[Archimedes|Archimedes of Syracuse]] used this quantity as the basis for a numeration system
of large powers of ten, which he needed to count grains of sand, see [[The Sand Reckoner]].
There is only slight indication that "myria" has at all been used as a metric prefix for 10,000, e.g., 10 [[kilometre]]s = 1 [[myriametre]]. It does not have official status as an [[SI prefix]].
In Sweden and Norway, one [[Norwegian/Swedish mil|mile]] = 10,000 metres = one myriametre. Before they went metric, one Swedish mile was 10,688 metres and a Norwegian mile was 11,295 metres, so only a small change had to be made to the old mile to makes them equal to one myriametre. Even today, Swedes frequently use the Swedish mile to refer to travel distances in everyday language. Similarly, one [[myriometre]] = 0.000 1 [[metre]].
In Great Britain, the [[Ordnance Survey]] use the term [[Myriad (unit of area)|myriad]] to refer to a 100 km x 100 km area in the [[British national grid reference system|National Grid]].
<!--In the free form role-playing chats, "The Keep" and "Dark Nexxus" 'Myriad' is the name of a custom race of beings; One of which being 'Levistus', Who is played by the creator. Other Myriads include 'Sebastian Arawn', Brother to the rather well known 'Azure Arawn', 'Token §åcro§åñc±', And 'Elzareth'.-->
==References==
<references/>
==See also==
*[[Chinese numerals]]
*[[Indian numbering system]]
*[[Myriad (unit of area)]]
*[[Knuth -yllion]]
[[Category:Integers]]
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