Cultural Number Systems
A Sourcebook
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Beschreibung
This sourcebook presents an extensive look at cultural number systems in numeracy and writing systems. Based on a decade of research by the author, the work examines topics such as why Xerxes the First counted his army by having his men march through an enclosure big enough to hold 10,000 of them at a time, why the Hawaiian word for "twenty" means “nine and two,” why an ancient Greek mathematician was driven mad by irrational numbers, and how old counting might be and how we might know this.
Along the way, the author describes topics such as dactylonomy, the ancient art of expressing and calculating numbers with the fingers; specified counting, the use of different counting sequences to count different types of objects; and the ephemeral abacus, strategies for counting that involve people and goods but not an actual device. The chapters are organized into six geographical areas (the ancient Near East, Africa, Europe, Asia/India, Oceania, and the Americas).
This sourcebook presents an extensive look at cultural number systems in numeracy and writing systems. Based on a decade of research by the author, the work examines topics such as why Xerxes the First counted his army by having his men march through an enclosure big enough to hold 10,000 of them at a time, why the Hawaiian word for "twenty" means “nine and two,” why an ancient Greek mathematician was driven mad by irrational numbers, and how old counting might be and how we might know this.
Along the way, the author describes topics such as dactylonomy, the ancient art of expressing and calculating numbers with the fingers; specified counting, the use of different counting sequences to count different types of objects; and the ephemeral abacus, strategies for counting that involve people and goods but not an actual device. The chapters are organized into six geographical areas (the ancient Near East, Africa, Europe, Asia/India, Oceania, and the Americas).
Presents different perspective on numbers (cognitive archaeology = material component of numeracy) Offers new interpretations and explanations of number systems Provides a broad look at variability in cultural number systems
Autor*in
Karenleigh A. Overmann
Themen in »Cultural Number Systems«
culture and numbers archaeology numbers cognitive archaeology number systems Material Engagement Theory numerals cognition and history counting human cultures numerical origins cultural number systems Sumerian numbers Elamite numbers numbers in the Achaemenid Empire Akkadian numbers Egyptian numbers number systems in Africa