极数十九经历了实虚反复转化的漫长演变过程。从先秦《左传》重耳出亡“十九年”的实数，到《庄子》内篇演变为反复出现的虚化极数；又由《史记·平原君列传》的“十九人”的可虚可实，到《汉书》苏武拘禁匈奴的“十九年”，以及玄奘取经“十九年”(一说十七年)，又回到实数；复从鲁迅《孔乙己》中所欠的“十九个钱”的虚化，似乎又是对《庄子》的回应。平原君的“十九人”，又在唐诗与以后诗中演变为虚数。先秦—战国—汉代—唐代—鲁迅演变的四部曲，基本呈现由实到虚的回环往复。从而形成了虚数与实数共同带有极数的意义。%The ultimate number nineteen in Chinese went through a long evolution from fact to function and from function to fact. In the Pre-Qin, the “nineteen years” of Chonger’s exile inThe Chronicles of Zuo was factual; inThe Inner Chapters of ZHUANG ZI, the number nineteen appeared repeatedly and evolved into a functional ultimate number. Later, the number became both factual and functional in the “nineteen people” inThe Biography of PingYuan the Gentleman inThe Books of the Historian,but it became factual again in the “nineteen years” of Su Wu’s captivity by the Huns inThe History of the Han Dynasty and the “nineteen years” (or seventeen years according to a different source) of Xuanzhuang’s journey on a pilgrimage for Buddhist scriptures. Corresponding seemingly to its functionalness in Zhuang Zi, the “nineteen-coin” bills inKong Yiji by Lu Xuan was thought to be functional again. The “nineteen people”The Biography of PingYuan the Gentlemanwas transformed into a functional number in poems in the Tang Dynasty and in later times. As a result, it is the repeated fact-to-function conversion of the number nineteen that brought about the situation in which both factual and functional nineteen have the meaning as an ultimate number.
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