positional notation

American  

noun

1. a type of numeration in which the position of a digit affects its value.

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positional notation British  

noun

1. the method of denoting numbers by the use of a finite number of digits, each digit having its value multiplied by its place value, as in 936 = (9 × 100) + (3 × 10) + 6

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Etymology

Origin of positional notation

First recorded in 1940–45

Example Sentences

And it is a placeholder in a positional notation system, such as our *Actually, it didn’t.

From Literature

Without a positional notation system, arithmetic is tedious and hard, as schoolchildren learn when teachers force them to multiply or subtract with Roman numerals.

From Literature