Sometimes, when two or more Numberblocks of different place value join together and make a new number, they do not become a single entity and instead take the form of a conjoined version of both Numberblocks. These are colloquially known as Compound Numberblocks. They first appeared in I Can Count to Twenty in the form of Twenty-One and have become recurring characters since then.
Compound Numberblocks are based on the math topic called expanded form, where numbers can be broken into addition expressions where each addend is one of its place values (for example: 67 is 60 + 7). When they are formed, they do not have a fully defined personality. Once they do develop a personality (usually through the means of learning their properties), they “figure themselves out” and permanently combine into a singular entity.
Appearances
- I Can Count to Twenty (Twenty-One)
- Twenty-One and On (Twenty-One - Twenty-Three)
- We're Going on a Square Hunt (Twenty-One - Twenty-Five)
- The Big One (Twenty-One - Ninety-Nine)
- One Hundred (Ninety-Nine)
- One Thousand and One (One Hundred and One - One Hundred and Three, One Hundred and Ten, One Hundred and Twenty, One Hundred and Thirty, Nine Hundred and Ninety, Nine Hundred and Ninety-Nine)
- More To Explore (Ninety-Five - Ninety-Nine, One Hundred and Twenty-Three - One Hundred and Twenty-Five, Ninety-Seven Thousand One Hundred and Four)
- How Rectangly! (Twenty-Three, Twenty-Four)
- Hidden Talents (Twenty-Six)
- Making Patterns (Twenty-Seven, Twenty-Eight)
- Club Picnic (Twenty-Nine)
- Figure It Out (Thirty-One, Thirty-Two)
- 100 Ways to Leave the Planet (One Hundred and One)
Trivia
- The concept of the Compound Numberblocks originates from production of The Big One. Originally, every Numberblock beyond Twenty (with the exceptions of multiples of 10) was to appear in their “figured-out” form. This idea was decided against as each of them would have only a few seconds of screentime at most, and the Compound Numberblocks were created as a compromise. Though compounds debuted earlier in I Can Count to Twenty, this episode and Twenty-One and On are the first episodes where they were properly established.
- The fact that Twenty-One in I Can Count to Twenty appears as Twenty and One conjoined reflects how the Alphablocks form digraphs and trigraphs (For example: Q conjoins herself with U to form the digraph "qu"; H, with C, S, and T, form "ch", "sh", and "th" respectively; I, G, and H form the trigraph "igh"; two O's conjoin to form "oo", etc.).
- Unlike letter teams, compound Numberblocks refer to themselves with singular first-person pronouns (I/me) instead of plural first-person pronouns (we/us). This means that compound Numberblocks are individual Numberblocks even before being figured out, not just two Numberblocks fused together.