The Number Concept
The Number Concept
Its Origin and Development
Book Excerpt
ter clear to Cely's comprehension, he had to
proceed upon a system of her own devising. A small notch was cut in a
smooth white stick for every dime she owed, and a large notch when the
dimes amounted to a dollar; for every five dollars a string was tied in the
fifth big notch, Cely keeping tally by the knots in her bit of twine; thus,
when two strings were tied about the stick, the ten dollars were seen to be
an indisputable fact." This interesting method of computing the amount of
her debt, whether an invention of her own or a survival of the African life
of her parents, served the old negro woman's purpose perfectly; and it
illustrates, as well as a score of examples could, the methods of
numeration to which the children of barbarism resort when any number is to
be expressed which exceeds the number of counters with which nature has
provided them. The fingers are, however, often employed in counting numbers
far above the first decade. After giving the Il-Oigob numerals up to 60,
Müller adds:[8] "Above 60 a
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