numbers_without_name

1.1.2

Numbers Without Name

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Introduction

Let's begin at the beginning. Imagine you didn't know decimal notation. Imagine you had no system of numerals at all. No way to write numbers. Further more imagine you had no name for any number either. How then would you discuss numbers, let alone large numbers?

Turns out we need neither a written or verbal form to think about numbers. A basic number sense is something we are all born with. This enables us to think and reason about numbers and even compare them even in the absence of language.

Apeal to the manifest

Even in man's most primitive state he would have had some sense of number even if he was consciously unwary of it. He would not necessarily have a name for the number of offspring he had, but he could glance and know that all his children were there assuming it was a relatively small number. This ability is certainly not unique to humans. Many animals, including birds and insects have a rudimentary ability to recognize the difference in small numbers. As part of a tribe our primitive man would also would have some sense, even if he could not verbalize it, of how "large" his tribe was. If a pack of wolves should come he could surmise the level of threat on how the size of the wolf pack compared to the tribe. He could also roughly tell when another tribe was larger or smaller.