Description

Book Synopsis
Insights from the history of numerical notation suggest that how humans write numbers is an active choice involving cognitive and social factors.

Over the past 5,000 years, more than 100 methods of numerical notation—distinct ways of writing numbers—have been developed and used by specific communities. Most of these are barely known today; where they are known, they are often derided as cognitively cumbersome and outdated. In Reckonings, Stephen Chrisomalis considers how humans past and present use numerals, reinterpreting historical and archaeological representations of numerical notation and exploring the implications of why we write numbers with figures rather than words.

Chrisomalis shows that numeration is a social practice. He argues that written numerals are conceptual tools that are transformed to fit the perceived needs of their users, and that the sorts of cognitive processes that affect decision-making around numerical activity are complex a

Reckonings Numerals Cognition and History

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    A Hardback by Stephen Chrisomalis

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      Publisher: MIT Press Ltd
      Publication Date: 15/12/2020
      ISBN13: 9780262044639, 978-0262044639
      ISBN10: 0262044633
      Also in:
      Mathematics

      Description

      Book Synopsis
      Insights from the history of numerical notation suggest that how humans write numbers is an active choice involving cognitive and social factors.

      Over the past 5,000 years, more than 100 methods of numerical notation—distinct ways of writing numbers—have been developed and used by specific communities. Most of these are barely known today; where they are known, they are often derided as cognitively cumbersome and outdated. In Reckonings, Stephen Chrisomalis considers how humans past and present use numerals, reinterpreting historical and archaeological representations of numerical notation and exploring the implications of why we write numbers with figures rather than words.

      Chrisomalis shows that numeration is a social practice. He argues that written numerals are conceptual tools that are transformed to fit the perceived needs of their users, and that the sorts of cognitive processes that affect decision-making around numerical activity are complex a

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