The higher numeral terms, under such conditions, rapidly become complex and cumbersome, as the following analysis of the number 1,279,999,999 shows.[366] The analysis will be readily understood when it is remembered that _ipan_ signifies plus.
_Caxtolli onnauhpoaltzonxiquipilli ipan caxtolli onnauhtzonxiquipilli ipan caxtolli onnauhpoalxiquipilli ipan caxtolli onnauhxiquipilli ipan caxtolli onnauhtzontli ipan caxtolli onnauhpoalli ipan caxtolli onnaui;_ _i.e._ 1,216,000,000 + 60,800,000 + 3,040,000 + 152,000 + 7600 + 380 + 19.

To show the compounding which takes place in the higher numerals, the analysis may be made more literally, thus: + (15 + 4) x 400 x 800 + (15 + 4) x 20 x 8000 + (15 + 4) x 8000 + (15 + 4) x 400 + (15 + 4) x 20 + 15 + 4.

Of course this resolution suffers from the fact that it is given in digits arranged in accordance with decimal notation, while the Nahuatl numerals express values by a base twice as great.

This gives the effect of a complexity and awkwardness greater than really existed in the actual use of the scale.

Except for the presence of the quinary element the number just given is really expressed with just as great simplicity as it could be in English words if our words "million" and "billion" were replaced by "thousand thousand" and "thousand thousand thousand." If Mexico had remained undisturbed by Europeans, and science and commerce had been left to their natural growth and development, uncompounded words would undoubtedly have been found for the higher units, 160,000, 3,200,000, etc., and the system thus rendered as simple as it is possible for a quinary-vigesimal system to be.
Other number scales of this region are given as follows: HUASTECA.[367] 10.