This book is a cross-cultural reference volume of all attested numerical notation systems (graphic, non-phonetic systems for representing numbers), encompassing more than 100 such systems used over the past 5,500 years. Using a typology that defies progressive, unilinear evolutionary models of change, Stephen Chrisomalis identifies five basic types of numerical notation systems, using a cultural phylogenetic framework to show relationships between systems and to create a general theory of change in numerical systems. Numerical notation systems are primarily representational systems, not computational technologies. Cognitive factors that help explain how numerical systems change relate to general principles, such as conciseness or avoidance of ambiguity, which apply also to writing systems. The transformation and replacement of numerical notation systems relates to specific social, economic, and technological changes, such as the development of the printing press or the expansion of the global world-system.
Author: Stephen Chrisomalis Publisher: Cambridge University Press Published: 01/18/2010 Pages: 498 Binding Type: Hardcover Weight: 1.73lbs Size: 9.41h x 6.91w x 1.24d ISBN: 9780521878180
Review Citation(s): Choice 08/01/2010
About the Author Chrisomalis, Stephen: - Stephen Chrisomalis is currently an assistant professor of anthropology at Wayne State University in Detroit, Michigan. He completed his PhD at McGill University in Montreal, Quebec, where he studied under the late Bruce Trigger. His doctoral dissertation (on which this book is founded) was awarded the Prix de l'ADESAQ for the top 2003 dissertation in any arts, social sciences, or fine arts discipline in the province of Quebec. His work has appeared in journals including Antiquity, Cambridge Archaeological Journal, and Cross-Cultural Research. He is the editor of the Stop: Toutes Directions project and the author of the academic weblog Glossographia.
