The Kaktovik numerals or Kaktovik Iñupiaq numerals are a base-20 system of numerical digits created by Alaskan Iñupiat. They are visually iconic, with shapes that indicate the number being represented. The Iñupiaq language has a base-20 numeral system, as do the other Eskimo–Aleut languages of Alaska and Canada (and formerly Greenland). Arabic numerals, which were designed for a base-10 system, are inadequate for Iñupiaq and other Inuit languages. To remedy this problem, students in Kaktovik, Alaska, invented a base-20 numeral notation in 1994, which has spread among the Alaskan Iñupiat and has been considered for use in Canada. The image here shows the Kaktovik digits 0 to 19. Larger numbers are composed of these digits in a positional notation: Twenty is written as a one and a zero (), forty as a two and a zero (), four hundred as a one and two zeros (), eight hundred as a two and two zeros (), and so on. System Iñupiaq, like other Inuit languages, has a base-20 counting system with a sub-base of 5. That is, quantities are counted in scores (as in Danish, Welsh and in some French numbers such as 'eighty'), with intermediate numerals for 5, 10, and 15. Thus 78 is identified as three score fifteen-three. The Kaktovik digits graphically reflect the lexical structure of the Iñupiaq numbering system. For example, the number seven is called in Iñupiaq ('five-two'), and the Kaktovik digit for seven is a top stroke (five) connected to two bottom strokes (two): . Similarly, twelve and seventeen are called ('ten-two') and ('fifteen-two'), and the Kaktovik digits are respectively two and three top strokes (ten and fifteen) with two bottom strokes: , . Values In the table are the decimal values of the Kaktovik digits up to three places to the left and to the right of the units' place. Origin In the early 1990s, during a math enrichment activity at Harold Kaveolook school in Kaktovik, Alaska, students noted that their language used a base 20 system and found that, when they tried to write numbers or do arithmetic with Arabic numerals, they did not have enough symbols to represent the Iñupiaq numbers. The students first addressed this lack by creating ten extra symbols, but found these were difficult to remember. The middle school in the small town had nine students, so it was possible for the entire class to work together to create