Book contents
- The Materiality of Numbers
- The Materiality of Numbers
- Copyright page
- Contents
- Figures
- Tables
- Acknowledgments
- Foreword
- Preface
- 1 Numbers in a Nutshell
- 2 Converging Perspectives on Numbers
- 3 The Brain in Numbers
- 4 Bodies and Behaviors
- 5 Language in Numbers
- 6 Global and Regional Patterns
- 7 Materiality in Numbers
- 8 Materiality in Cognition
- 9 Making Quantity Tangible and Manipulable
- 10 Tallies and Other Devices That Accumulate
- 11 Interpreting Prehistoric Artifacts
- 12 Devices That Accumulate and Group
- 13 Handwritten Notations
- 14 The Materiality of Numbers
- References
- Index
4 - Bodies and Behaviors
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 11 May 2023
- The Materiality of Numbers
- The Materiality of Numbers
- Copyright page
- Contents
- Figures
- Tables
- Acknowledgments
- Foreword
- Preface
- 1 Numbers in a Nutshell
- 2 Converging Perspectives on Numbers
- 3 The Brain in Numbers
- 4 Bodies and Behaviors
- 5 Language in Numbers
- 6 Global and Regional Patterns
- 7 Materiality in Numbers
- 8 Materiality in Cognition
- 9 Making Quantity Tangible and Manipulable
- 10 Tallies and Other Devices That Accumulate
- 11 Interpreting Prehistoric Artifacts
- 12 Devices That Accumulate and Group
- 13 Handwritten Notations
- 14 The Materiality of Numbers
- References
- Index
Summary
Our perceptual experience of quantity means that without counting, we recognize quantities up to about three or four rapidly and unambiguously, and we appreciate quantities larger than this range as bigger or smaller in groups when differences are big enough to be noticeable. These ranges correspond exactly to the first numbers to emerge across cultures and languages, even those widely separated by distance and time: one, two, (maybe) three, (occasionally) four, and many, with many often further specified as big many and small many. In other words, the first numbers are consistent with the functions of numerosity, subitizing, and magnitude appreciation.
- Type
- Chapter
- Information
- The Materiality of NumbersEmergence and Elaboration from Prehistory to Present, pp. 70 - 93Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2023