60909
> Equivalent question: What Japanese letters won't equal 1?

From: [the homophonic group: a mathematical diversion
](https://math.stackexchange.com/questions/843966/) → This is an exercise from
Michael Artin's _Algebra_ on, well, abstract algebra. In this exercise for the
English language, words are equal if they are homophones, kind of like a
formalisation of the [joke that
sin(x)/n=6](https://www.reddit.com/r/theydidtheshittymath/comments/7z5e61/sinxn6/).
So in English:

  * bee=be → This implies e=1 by cancellation of b and e.

  * buy=by → This implies u=1 by cancellation of b and y.

  * rase=raze → This implies s=z by cancellation of r, a and e.

canvass=canvas → This implies s=1 by cancellation of c,a,n,v,a and s. By
canvass=canvas and rase=raze, we have s=z=1.

Eventually, all 26 English letters will equal 1. Apparently, this was done for
[French](https://projecteuclid.org/download/pdf_1/euclid.em/1062620828) and
[Czech](http://www1.osu.cz/~zusmanovich/topics.html).
CC BY-SA 4.0
2018-08-16T12:41:20.867
60903
2020-08-16T21:07:29.370
2018-08-16T16:47:27.100
1628
10230
question
katakana hiragana homophonic-kanji mathematics homonyms
What is the Japanese Homophonic Group?
Hiragana is a phonogram, meaning each letter has a distinct sound. There are a
few notable exceptions like は pronounced as わ in certain contexts, but mostly
I expect the size of homophonic groups to be quite large. If you include 漢字,
this gets even larger, though there are plenty of kanjis that share the same
pronunciation.

The only hiragana that I can think of that changes pronunciation is は~=わ and
を=お
CC BY-SA 4.0
2018-08-16T15:02:51.810
60909
2020-08-16T21:07:29.370
2020-08-16T21:07:29.370
18772
3059
60903
answer