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cardinal numbers

Cultural  
  1. Numbers that indicate the quantity of things in a group or set, but not the order or arrangement of those things. One, two, and one thousand are cardinal numbers. (Compare ordinal numbers.)


Example Sentences

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After we have these notions, the size of sets is denoted by cardinal numbers, or cardinals.

From Scientific American

Chapters in books are usually given the cardinal numbers 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6 and so on.

From Literature

This attaching to the cardinal numbers above three or four the meanings of the ordinal numbers seems to affect many children on entrance to school.

From Project Gutenberg

This whole process is familiar; it gives the series of the positive whole numbers, that is, the cardinal numbers.

From Project Gutenberg

Few persons have an adequate idea of the important part the cardinal numbers are now playing in the cause of Liberty.

From Project Gutenberg