計算の認知と歴史 Reckonings : Numerals, Cognition, and History

著者名：Chrisomalis, Stephen

The MIT Press（2020/12/15発売）

• 言語：ENG
• ISBN：9780262044639
• eISBN：9780262360876

Description

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 Most of these are barely known today; where they are known, they are often derided as cognitively cumbersome and outdated.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.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgements
Introduction: three reckonings
Note: On "Western numerals"
1 / I The limits of numerical cognition
2 / II Conspicuous computation
3 / III The decline and fall of the Roman numerals, I: Of screws and hammers
4 / IV The decline and fall of the Roman numerals, II: Safety in numbers
5 / V Number crunching
6 / VI How to choose a number
7 / VII To infinity and beyond?
Notes
Bibliography
Index