Free shipping on all orders over $79* Limited Time Only
Track My Order
Help Centre
Likes
My Wish ListsLogin / Join
Booktopia
Australia's local bookstore
Get Free Shipping on orders over $79
Cultural Number Systems : A Sourcebook - Karenleigh A. Overmann

Cultural Number Systems

A Sourcebook

By: Karenleigh A. Overmann

eText | 26 April 2025

At a Glance

eText

$189.00

or 4 interest-free payments of $47.25 with

 or 

Instant online reading in your Booktopia eTextbook Library *

Why choose an eTextbook?

Instant Access *

Purchase and read your book immediately

Read Aloud

Listen and follow along as Bookshelf reads to you

Study Tools

Built-in study tools like highlights and more

* eTextbooks are not downloadable to your eReader or an app and can be accessed via web browsers only. You must be connected to the internet and have no technical issues with your device or browser that could prevent the eTextbook from operating.

This sourcebook presents an extensive look at cultural number systems in numeracy and writing systems. Based on a decade of research by the author, the work examines topics such as why Xerxes the First counted his army by having his men march through an enclosure big enough to hold 10,000 of them at a time, why the Hawaiian word for "twenty" means "nine and two," why an ancient Greek mathematician was driven mad by irrational numbers, and how old counting might be and how we might know this.

Along the way, the author describes topics such as dactylonomy, the ancient art of expressing and calculating numbers with the fingers; specified counting, the use of different counting sequences to count different types of objects; and the ephemeral abacus, strategies for counting that involve people and goods but not an actual device. The chapters are organized into six geographical areas (the ancient Near East, Africa, Europe, Asia/India, Oceania, and the Americas).

on
Desktop
Tablet
Mobile

You Can Find This eBook In

Non-FictionArchaeologyMathematicsHistory of Mathematics

More in History of Mathematics

Men of Mathematics - E.T. Bell

eBOOK

Men of Mathematics

eBook

$9.99

Is God a Mathematician? - Mario Livio

eBOOK

Is God a Mathematician?

eBook

$18.99

This product is categorised by