数学史学习资料：史前数学

Posted 2022-05-28 howard2005

Prehistoric Mathematics

The origins of mathematical thought lie in the concepts of number, magnitude, and form. Modern studies of animal cognition have shown that these concepts are not unique to hmans. Such concepts would have been part of everyday life in hunter-gatherer societies (狩猎社会). The idea of the “number” concept evolving gradually over time is supported by the existence of languages which preserve the distinction between “one”, “two”, and “many”, but not of numbers larger than two.

著名物理学家伽莫夫（宇宙大爆炸理论以及核聚变理论的提出者）在他的科普书《从1到无穷大》中举了这样一个例子。两个原始部落的酋长比赛，看谁说的数字大。第一个酋长说了三，第二个酋长想了半天，然后说你赢了。你今天听起来觉得这两个人真可笑，至少说出四，岂不就赢了？但是对这两位酋长来讲，所拥有的东西就很少超过三个，比三个多的东西他们就觉得没有必要数清楚了，就用许多来形容了。也就是说，