The article position when several adjectives stay before a noun

[victor_amelkin]

Hello.

Could you point, which of these phrases are correct:

1) a small positive number
2) small a positive number
3) a too small positive number
4) too small a positive number

I'd rather say that 1) and 3) are correct, but I'm not sure since
I've met 4) several times in various documentations, which are
likely to be correctly-spelled.

Thanks in advance,
Victor

[David L.]

1) a small positive number
2) small a positive number
3) a too small positive number a too small a positive number
4) too small a positive number

[philo2009]

As noted by David, only 1 and 4 are correct. An adjective preceded by 'too' cannot in turn be preceded by an article.

Note, however, that the construction of #4 is peculiar to British English. An AmE speaker would probably say 'too small of a positive number'. If preferred, although wordy, a relative clause construction (in either variety of English) can always be substituted: 'a positive number that is too small'.

[victor_amelkin]

Thanks David, philo2009,

I suspected that I cannot use an article before "too". I'd rather
use the BrE spelling variant "too small a positive number", than
the extended "a positive number that is too small".

--
Victor

[philo2009]

Definitely the more stylistically elegant choice!