1. What is a numeral?
 
　　A numeral represents a number, as in English. 
 

1.1. Exact numerals
 
　　 一(one) 　　　二(two) 　　　三(three)　 　　四(four)　　　 五(five) 　　　六(six)
　　 七(seven)　　 　八(eight)　 　 九(nine) 　　　十(ten) 　　　百(100)　 　　千(1,000)
　 　万(10,000)* 　　　亿(100,000,000)* 　　　零(zero)　　　 两(two) 
 
　　Those greater than the number of ten can be formed by combining each other of the above-listed numerals, e.g.
 
　　 十一(11)　 十二(12) 　二十三(23)　 三十四(34)　 一百(one hundred) 　一百零一(101)
　　 一百一十(110)　 一百二十五(125) 　九百(900)　 一千(thousand)　 一千九百九十九(1999)
　　 一万(10,000)　 十万(100,000)　 百万(one million) 　千万(10 million)　 亿(100 million)　　　 十亿(one billion) 　百亿(10 billion)　 千亿(100 billion)　 万亿(trillion 
 
1.2. Approximate numerals
 
　　 几(several)*　一些(some)*　许多(many)*　少数(minority)　七八百(seven or eight hundred) 
 
1.3. Ordinal numerals
 
　　 第一(first)　 初五(fifth) 

 
2. What is noteworthy about Chinese numerals 
 
2.1. Counting words having no equivalents in English 
 
　　There are a few differences of counting units between Chinese and English. “万” and “亿” are words with no equivalents in English just as we can't find the single words representing “million” and ”billion” in Chinese. we should say 百万 for the former and 十亿for the latter. 
 
2.2. “二” and “两”
 
　　In Chinese, both numerals “二” and “两” represent the same number, but have a few differences in usage. “两” is commonly used before non-metrological quantifiers such as “个”, “只”, “件”, “条”, “张”, “间”, “下”, “回”, etc., e.g.
 
　　两个人 (two men) --- (wrong)二个人
　　两本书 (two books) --- (wrong)二本书
　　两张纸 (two pieces of paper ) --- (wrong)二张纸
　　他敲了两下门。 (He gave a couple of knocks on the door) --- (wrong)敲了二下门
　　他来过两回。 (He came here twice) --- (wrong)来过二回
 
　　Both “二” and “两” can be used before metrological quantifiers, e.g.
 
　　二斤米 or 两斤米 (two jin of rice)
　　二尺棉布 or 两尺棉布 (two chi of cotton cloth) 
 
2.3. The use in idiomatic expressions
 
　　In usage, exact numerals are often used to indicate approximate numbers, e.g.
 
　　五颜六色的服装 (colorful costumes)
　　他三番两次地打电话来。(He repeatedly called me)