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IELTS

The document discusses the development of numerical concepts and counting systems in human cultures. It notes that early European languages had limited number words, with "100" expressed as multiples of 10 or 20. In 7th century Europe, most people could only count to 9. The document also suggests that the ability to see numbers as abstract concepts, rather than just attributes of objects, was important for developing numeration systems. Finally, it notes that some indigenous languages still have distinct number words depending on the type of object counted, and that counting originally relied on physical aids like pebbles before becoming memorized number words.

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58 views2 pages

IELTS

The document discusses the development of numerical concepts and counting systems in human cultures. It notes that early European languages had limited number words, with "100" expressed as multiples of 10 or 20. In 7th century Europe, most people could only count to 9. The document also suggests that the ability to see numbers as abstract concepts, rather than just attributes of objects, was important for developing numeration systems. Finally, it notes that some indigenous languages still have distinct number words depending on the type of object counted, and that counting originally relied on physical aids like pebbles before becoming memorized number words.

Uploaded by

ovey
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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** The lack of ability of some cultures to deal with large numbers is not really surprising.

European languages, when traced back to their earlier version, are very poor in number, words
and expressions. The ancient Gothic word for ten, tachund, is used to express the number 100 as
tachund tachund. By the seventh century, the word teon had become interchangeable with the
tachund or hund of the Anglo-Saxon language, and so 100 was denoted as hund teontig, or ten
times ten. The average person in the seventh century in Europe was not as familiar with numbers
as we are today. In fact, to qualify as a witness in a court of law a man had to be able to count to
nine!
** Perhaps the most fundamental step in developing a sense of number is not the ability to
count, but rather to see that a number is really an abstract idea instead of a simple attachment to a
group of particular objects. It must have been within the grasp of the earliest humans to conceive
that four birds are distinct from two birds; however, it is not an elementary step to associate the
number 4, as connected with four birds, to the number 4, as connected with four rocks.
Associating a number as one of the qualities of a specific object is a great hindrance to the
development of a true number sense. When the number 4 can be registered in the mind as a
specific word, independent of the object being referenced, the individual is ready to take the first
step toward the development of a notational system for numbers and, from there, to arithmetic.

** Traces of the very first stages in the development of numeration can be seen in several living
languages today. The numeration system of the Tsimshian language In British Columbia
contains seven distinct sets of words for numbers according to the class of the item being
counted: for counting flat objects and animals, for round objects and time, for people, for long
objects and trees, for canoes, for measures, and for counting when no particular object is being
numerated. It seems that the last is a later development while the first six groups show the relics
of an older system. This diversity of number names can also be found in some widely used
languages such as Japanese.

** Intermixed with the development of a number sense is the development of an ability to count.
Counting is not directly related to the formation of a number concept because it is possible to
count by matching the items being counted against a group of pebbles, grains of corn, or the
counter's fingers. These aids would have been indispensable to very early people who would
have found the process impossible without some form of a mechanical aid. Such aids, while
different, are still used even by the most educated in today's society due to their convenience. All
counting ultimately involves reference to something other than the things being counted. At first,
it may have been grains or pebbles but now it is a memorized sequence of words that happen to
be the names of the numbers.

https://collegedunia.com/news/e-482-ielts-reading-sample-with-explanation-numeration

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