In English and related languages, several terms involving the words "great" or "gross" relate to numbers involving a multiple of exponents of twelve (dozen):
- A gross is a group of 144 items (a dozen dozen or a square dozen, 122).12
- A great gross is a group of 1,728 items (a dozen gross or a cubic dozen, 123).12
- A small gross3 or a great hundred4 is a group of 120 items (ten dozen, 10×12).
The term can be abbreviated gr. or gro., and dates from the early 15th century. It derives from the Old French grosse douzaine, meaning "large dozen”.5 The continued use of these terms in measurement and counting represents the duodecimal number system.6 This has led groups such as the Dozenal Society of America to advocate for wider use of "gross" and related terms instead of the decimal system.78
References
References
- Schwartzman, Steven (1996), The Words of Mathematics: An Etymological Dictionary of Mathematical Terms Used in English, Mathematical Association of America, pp. 100–101, ISBN 9780883855119.
- Darling, David (2004), The Universal Book of Mathematics: From Abracadabra to Zeno's Paradoxes, John Wiley & Sons, p. 140, ISBN 9780471270478.
- Wright, Carroll Davidson (1910), The New Century Book of Facts: A Handbook of Ready Reference, King-Richardson Company, p. 462.
- Wells, David (1997), The Penguin Dictionary of Curious and Interesting Numbers (3rd ed.), Penguin, p. 66, ISBN 9780140261493.
- Gross | Origin and meaning of gross by Online Etymology Dictionary
- Gullberg, Jan (1997), Mathematics: From the Birth of Numbers, W. W. Norton & Company, ISBN 9780393040029.
- Dudley, Underwood (1996), Mathematical Cranks, Cambridge University Press, p. 22, ISBN 9780883855072.
- Bellos, Alex (2012-12-12), "Dozenalists of the world unite! Rise up against the tyranny of ten!", The Guardian.