String Figures as Mathematics? String Figures as Mathematics?
Studies in History and Philosophy of Science

String Figures as Mathematics‪?‬

An Anthropological Approach to String Figure-making in Oral Tradition Societies

    • $84.99
    • $84.99

Publisher Description

This book addresses the mathematical rationality contained in the making of string figures. It does so by using interdisciplinary methods borrowed from anthropology, mathematics, history and philosophy of mathematics. The practice of string figure-making has long been carried out in many societies, and particularly in those of oral tradition. It consists in applying a succession of operations to a string (knotted into a loop), mostly using the fingers and sometimes the feet, the wrists or the mouth. This succession of operations is intended to generate a final figure. The book explores different modes of conceptualization of the practice of string figure-making and analyses various source material through these conceptual tools: it looks at research by mathematicians, as well as ethnographical publications, and personal fieldwork findings in the Chaco, Paraguay, and in the Trobriand Islands, Papua New Guinea, which all give evidence of the rationality that underlies this activity. It concludes that the creation of string figures may be seen as the result of intellectual processes, involving the elaboration of algorithms, and concepts such as operation, sub-procedure, iteration, and transformation.

GENRE
Science & Nature
RELEASED
2015
January 2
LANGUAGE
EN
English
LENGTH
411
Pages
PUBLISHER
Springer International Publishing
SELLER
Springer Nature B.V.
SIZE
15.6
MB

More Books Like This

Cultures of Computation and Quantification in the Ancient World Cultures of Computation and Quantification in the Ancient World
2023
MATHKNOW MATHKNOW
2009
Aspects of Automatic Text Analysis Aspects of Automatic Text Analysis
2007
Mathematics, Administrative and Economic Activities in Ancient Worlds Mathematics, Administrative and Economic Activities in Ancient Worlds
2020
Essentials of Mathematical Thinking Essentials of Mathematical Thinking
2017
Technology-Assisted Guided Discovery to Support Learning Technology-Assisted Guided Discovery to Support Learning
2021

More Books by Eric Vandendriessche

Other Books in This Series

Borelli's On the Movement of Animals - On the Force of Percussion Borelli's On the Movement of Animals - On the Force of Percussion
2014
Borelli's On the Movement of Animals - On the Natural Motions Resulting from Gravity Borelli's On the Movement of Animals - On the Natural Motions Resulting from Gravity
2014
An Illustrated History of Health and Fitness, from Pre-History to Our Post-Modern World An Illustrated History of Health and Fitness, from Pre-History to Our Post-Modern World
2014
Bernard de Mandeville's Tropology of Paradoxes Bernard de Mandeville's Tropology of Paradoxes
2015
Boundaries, Extents and Circulations Boundaries, Extents and Circulations
2016
Grete Hermann - Between Physics and Philosophy Grete Hermann - Between Physics and Philosophy
2017