Cultural Development of Mathematical Ideas

Papua New Guinea Studies

Geoffrey B. Saxe

• Publisher: Cambridge University Press
• Year: 2012
• Print ISBN:
  9780521761666
• eBook ISBN:
  9781139557788
• Topic: Psychology
• Subtopic: Cognitive Psychology & Cognition
• Index: Psychology

Drawing upon field studies conducted in 1978, 1980 and 2001 with the Oksapmin, a remote Papua New Guinea group, Geoffrey B. Saxe traces the emergence of new forms of numerical representations and ideas in the social history of the community. In traditional life, the Oksapmin used a counting system that makes use of twenty-seven parts of the body; there is no evidence that the group used arithmetic in prehistory. As practices of economic exchange and schooling have shifted, children and adults unwittingly reproduced and altered the system in order to solve new kinds of numerical and arithmetical problems, a process that has led to new forms of collective representations in the community. While Dr Saxe's focus is on the Oksapmin, the insights and general framework he provides are useful for understanding shifting representational forms and emerging cognitive functions in any human community.

Table of contents

• Cover
• Cultural Development of Mathematical Ideas
• SERIES EDITOR
• Title
• Copyright
• Dedication
• Contents
• Figures
• Series Foreword
• Preface
• Acknowledgments
• Introduction
• Part I The Origins of Number: Enduring Questions
• Part II Economic Exchange
• Part III Schooling
• Part IV Toward an Integrated Treatment of Sociohistorical and Cognitive Developmental Processes
• Epilogue
• Appendix A: The Five Oksapmin Conversational Number Words
• Appendix B: Currency Tokens, Images, and Physical Descriptions
• Appendix C: Notes on Age Determination, Back-Translation, and Interview Settings
• Appendix D: Record Form Used in Trade Store Diary Study (Sample Page)
• Appendix E: Auxiliary Words Used in Quantification
• Appendix F: Tit Fu Interview Used with Adults
• References
• Index
• BOOKS IN THE SERIES