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Numbers › Cardinal/Ordinal
Cardinal, ordinal & nominal
Three jobs the same digits can do — count things, rank things, or just label things.
Cardinal
How many.
There are 3 dogs.
Ordinal
Which position.
The 3rd dog won.
Nominal
A label, not an amount.
Bus #3.
| Cardinal | Ordinal | In words |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | 1st | first |
| 2 | 2nd | second |
| 3 | 3rd | third |
| 4 | 4th | fourth |
| 5 | 5th | fifth |
| 10 | 10th | tenth |
| 21 | 21st | twenty-first |
How to spot which is which
- If you can replace it with "some number of" → cardinal.
- If it ranks something (1st, 2nd, 3rd) → ordinal.
- If swapping the digit doesn't change the count or the ranking → nominal (just an ID).