A Guide to Baker’s Dozenal

Baker’s dozenal is a counting system based on the number thirteen. Similar to how our decimal system is based on ten and its multiples, baker’s dozenal is structured around the number thirteen.

Counting in Baker’s Dozenal

The numbers up to 9 (one 1, two 2, three 3, four 4, five 5, six 6, seven 7, eight 8, nine 9) all stay the same. Because of the way bakers dozenal works, the next number, which is still called ten, has to have its own digit. The digit used is X, because of roman numerals. The name “eleven” is also preserved, but this number is written as Y. Finally, there is the number we call twelve. In baker’s dozenal it is called “dozen”, and written with Z.

After this, the next number used is thirteen, but it’s called “baker’s dozen”. It is written as “10”. In the decimal system this means 1 ten and 0 ones, but here it means 1 baker’s dozen and 0 ones. After this the numbers follow the following format:

baker’s dozen one 11 (fourteen)
baker’s dozen two 12 (fifteen)
baker’s dozen three 13 (sixteen)
baker’s dozen four 14 (seventeen)
baker’s dozen five 15 (eighteen)
baker’s dozen six 16 (nineteen)
baker’s dozen seven 17 (twenty)
baker’s dozen eight 18 (twenty-one)
baker’s dozen nine 19 (twenty-two)
baker’s dozen ten 1X (twenty-three)
baker’s dozen eleven 1Y (twenty-four)
baker’s dozen dozen 1Z (twenty-five)

The next number after these is what we call twenty-six, which means "two tens and six ones". In baker's dozenal, it is equal to "two baker's dozens and zero ones", which is written as 20. This should be obvious based on the way it's written, but this number is the equivalent of (not equal to, that's different) the decimal number twenty. Twenty (two tens) gets its own name, so it seems fitting that two baker's dozens should get its own as well. But the question is: what to call it? Well I toyed around with a few options, but the one I decided to go with was "baker's twenty". A baker's twenty is equal to two baker's dozens. Therefore, the rest of the numbers continue like this:

baker’s twenty 20 (twenty-six)
baker’s twenty-one 21 (twenty-seven)
baker’s twenty-two 22 (twenty-eight)
baker’s twenty-three 23 (twenty-nine)
baker’s twenty-four 24 (thirty)
baker’s twenty-five 25 (thirty-one)
baker’s twenty-six 26 (thirty-two)
baker’s twenty-seven 27 (thirty-three)
baker’s twenty-eight 28 (thirty-four)
baker’s twenty-nine 29 (thirty-five)
baker’s twenty-ten 2X (thirty-six)
baker’s twenty-eleven 2Y (thirty-seven)
baker’s twenty-dozen 2Z (thirty-eight)

After this is the number we'd write as 30, which is equal to thirty-nine, or three baker's dozens. This will be called baker's thirty. The numbers are formed from here in the same way as the above (baker's thirty-one, baker's thirty-two, etc.) until the next multiple of thirteen is reached. All numbers up to one hundred and sixty-nine (a baker's dozen squared) are written and named in this way, as a multiple of baker's dozen plus the corresponding number of ones. The names for these are:

baker's thirty 30 (thirty-nine)
baker's forty 40 (fifty-two)
baker's fifty 50 (sixty-five)
baker's sixty 60 (seventy-eight)
baker's seventy 70 (ninety-one)
baker's eighty 80 (one hundred four)
baker's ninety 90 (one hundred seventeen)

Here we run into a problem. the next number (ten baker's dozens) would logically be named after the next multiple of ten plus "baker's". The problem is, however, that here we circle around into "one hundred" + a multiple of ten. What should "ten baker's dozens" be called? Baker's hundred? Well, that could work, but what for the next two multiples of thirteen? Baker's hundred ten and baker's hundred twenty? No, that won't work. What I decided to do, then, was extend the -ty suffix to add on to the rest of our digits. Therefore, after "baker's ninety-dozen" (one hundred twenty-nine), we get:

baker's tenty X0 (one hundred thirty)
baker's eleventy Y0 (one hundred forty-three)
baker's dozenty Z0 (one hundred fifty-six)

After this comes our next originally named number, a baker's dozen of a baker's dozens (aka thirteen thirteens). This number will be written as 100, but what should it be called? My first thought was a "baker's gross" (a gross = 144, a dozen dozens), but that sounds like im saying "a baker is gross", which I found both extremely offensive and objectively inaccurate. Instead of insulting the fine art of baking, I decided to honor it. My word for a baker's dozen of a baker's dozens will be a "batch" (as in a batch of cookies). From this we can proceed with our counting as follows:

one batch 100 (one hundred sixty-nine)
one batch one 101 (one hundred seventy)
one batch two 102 (one hundred seventy-one)
...
one batch eight 108 (one hundred seventy-seven)
one batch nine 109 (one hundred seventy-eight)
one batch ten 10X (one hundred seventy-nine)
one batch eleven 10Y (one hundred eighty)
one batch dozen 10Z (one hundred eighty-one)
one batch baker's dozen 110 (one hundred eighty-two)

Now we will count by baker's dozens (equivalent to counting by tens).

one batch baker's twenty 120 (one hundred ninety-five)
one batch baker's thirty 130 (two hundred eight)
one batch baker's forty 140 (two hundred twenty-one)
one batch baker's fifty 150 (two hundred thirty-four)
one batch baker's sixty 160 (two hundred forty-seven)
one batch baker's seventy 170 (two hundred sixty)
one batch baker's eighty 180 (two hundred seventy-three)
one batch baker's ninety 190 (two hundred eighty-six)
one batch baker's tenty 1X0 (two hundred ninety-nine)
one batch baker's eleventy 1Y0 (three hundred twelve)
one batch baker's dozenty 1Z0 (three hundred twenty-five)
two batch 200 (three hundred thirty eight)

Note that we say "two batch" and not "two batches", same as we say "two hundred" and not "two hundreds". After this, I will start to count by batches. Note that all numbers in between these exist, and I am just listing these for the purpose of demostrating.

three batch 300 (five hundred seven)
four batch 400 (seven hundred eighty-four)
five batch 500 (nine hundred eighty)
six batch 600 (one thousand one hundred seventy-six)
seven batch 700 (one thousand three hundred seventy-two)
eight batch 800 (one thousand five hundred sixty-eight)
nine batch 900 (one thousand seven hundred sixty-four)
ten batch X00 (one thousand nine hundred sixty)
eleven batch Y00 (two thousand one hundred fifty-six)
dozen batch Z00 (two thousand three hundred fifty-two)