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10 Education Center: One, Two, Many One, Two, Two and One, Two Twos, Two Twos and One

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11 views2 pages

10 Education Center: One, Two, Many One, Two, Two and One, Two Twos, Two Twos and One

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Uploaded by

Khoi Nguyen
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© © All Rights Reserved
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10 EDUCATION CENTER

Address 1: 6-7th floor – 70 Tran Dai Nghia Str., Hai Ba Trung Dist., Ha Noi.
Address 2: No.49, 13 Ngo Chi Lan Str., Soc Son town, Hanoi.
Fanpage: fb.com/10educationvn
Hotline: 090.186.1010/08.9966.1010

Evidence of early stages of arithmetic and numeration can be readily found. The
indigenous peoples of Tasmania were only able to count one, two, many; those of
South Africa counted one, two, two and one, two twos, two twos and one, and so
on. But in real situations the number and words are often accompanied by gestures
to help resolve any confusion. For example, when using the one, two, many type of
system, the word many would mean, Look at my hands and see how many fingers I
am showing you. This basic approach is limited in the range of numbers that it can
express, but this range will generally suffice when dealing with the simpler aspects
of human existence.

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

READING 2 39 IELTS MEDIUM 5.5


10 EDUCATION CENTER
Address 1: 6-7th floor – 70 Tran Dai Nghia Str., Hai Ba Trung Dist., Ha Noi.
Address 2: No.49, 13 Ngo Chi Lan Str., Soc Son town, Hanoi.
Fanpage: fb.com/10educationvn
Hotline: 090.186.1010/08.9966.1010

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 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.

1. For the earliest tribes, the concept of sufficiency was more important than the
concept of quantity.

2. Indigenous Tasmanians used only four terms to indicate numbers of objects.

3. Some peoples with simple number systems use body language to prevent
misunderstanding of expressions of number.

4. All cultures have been able to express large numbers clearly.

5. The word 'thousand' has Anglo-Saxon origins.

6. In general, people in seventh-century Europe had poor counting ability.

7. In the Tsimshian language, the number for long objects and canoes is expressed
with the same word.

8. The Tsimshian language contains both older and newer systems of counting.

9. Early peoples found it easier to count by using their fingers rather than a group
of pebbles.

READING 2 40 IELTS MEDIUM 5.5

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