The Number Sense: How the Mind Creates Mathematics

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Oxford University Press, Oct 30, 1999 - Mathematics - 288 pages
The Number Sense is an enlightening exploration of the mathematical mind. Describing experiments that show that human infants have a rudimentary number sense, Stanislas Dehaene suggests that this sense is as basic as our perception of color, and that it is wired into the brain. Dehaene shows that it was the invention of symbolic systems of numerals that started us on the climb to higher mathematics. A fascinating look at the crossroads where numbers and neurons intersect, The Number Sense offers an intriguing tour of how the structure of the brain shapes our mathematical abilities, and how our mathematics opens up a window on the human mind.
 

Contents

Preface
Introduction
Our Numerical Heritage
PiagetsTheory Piagets Errors
Nature Nurtureand Number Chapter 3 TheAdult Number Line
Intuitions of Number Part II Beyond Approximation Chapter 4 The Languageof Numbers
The ABC ofCalculation Preschoolers as Algorithm Designers
Teaching Number Sense Chapter 6Geniuses and Prodigies
Losing Number Sense
TheComputing Brain Does Mental Calculation Increase BrainMetabolism? The Principle of Positron Emission Tomography
What Is a Number?
Appendix
Index
Copyright

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About the author (1999)

Stanislas Dehaene is Research Director at the Institut National de la Sante et de la Recherche Medicale, in Paris, France.

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