Lots of interesting number/culture stuff out there. One of my
favorites are the languages with numeral classifiers, where whenever
you count you have to include a bit of morphology that describes
features of the objects being counted. Vaguely remember discussions
of "ethno-mathematics" as well, and a stream of anthro/cog science
grew up around observations that people could do math in context that
classroom evaluations said they couldn't do at all.
Mike
On Nov 30, 2006, at 7:17 PM, J T Johnson wrote:
My apologies, and I seem to be pushing the evelope of original
intent for the FRIAM list, but I find this sort of "anthropology of
numbers" topic an interesting problem that converges on interesting
questions in how we design, say, databases or UIs that are
applicable anywhere, anytime.
So for what it's worth....
-tj
---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] < [EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Date: Nov 30, 2006 5:55 PM
Subject: [MEA] Fwd:The yin and yang of numbers across cultures
To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
>From the Chronicle of Higher Ed's Magazine and Journal Reader.
Thursday, November 30, 2006
A glance at the current issue of the Bulletin of Science, Technology &
Society: The yin and yang of numbers across cultures
In Japanese culture, a rainbow is considered to consist of seven
colors: red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo, and purple. A
rainbow has
one less color in the West, as Americans and Europeans tend not to
count
indigo. However, because a rainbow is actually a continuous
spectrum, both
perceptions are wrong, notes Yutaka Nishiyama, a professor at Osaka
University of Economics, in Japan. He says those distinct viewpoints
reflect a Japanese preference for odd numbers and Western
favoritism toward
even numbers.
Mr. Nishiyama provides numerous other examples to suggest an East-West
difference in the preference for odd or even numbers. According to a
Japanese proverb, for example, three heads are better than two,
"whereas in
English, two are better than one." In a study of number-related
words in
English and Japanese, he found additional evidence. "It appears," he
writes, "that the Japanese language has a cultural setting that
favors the
odd numbers 3 and 5, whereas English has a cultural setting that
favors the
even numbers 2, 4, and 6."
The author looks at historical clues in attempting to explain why
different
cultures may have a preference for one form of numbers over the
other. The
ancient Greeks, he says, regarded odd numbers as good. So did the
ancient
Chinese. The latter utilized yin-yang thought, which is based on
the idea
of alternating opposites. For instance, yang is generally
considered to be
masculine, and yin to be feminine. He emphasizes, however, that the
concept
is meant to be interpreted as a system of opposites and of "infinite
change," not as "a case of one being superior or inferior to the
other." So
a man is yang in relation to a woman, but yin in relation to his
parents.
Only in modern times, he says, has yang come to be understood as
"good and
superior" in relation to yin.
He concludes that the ancient preference for odd numbers probably
faded in
the West with the arrival of modern mathematics, "as represented by
Newton." As he explains it, modern mathematics values rationality, and
"seems to have abandoned the ideas of ancient Chinese yin-yang
thought and
ancient Greek philosophy, in which odd numbers were male and even
numbers
female. When counting numbers, odd numbers were incomplete, in-between
numbers, whereas even numbers were certainly more rational." Thus, "in
contrast to the East, where odd numbers are positive and good, in
the West,
odd numbers are incomplete and superfluous."
The article, "A Study of Odd- and Even-Number Cultures," is
temporarily
available free through Sage Publications.
http://bst.sagepub.com/cgi /content/abstract/26/6/479
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--
==========================================
J. T. Johnson
Institute for Analytic Journalism -- Santa Fe, NM USA
www.analyticjournalism.com
505.577.6482(c) 505.473.9646(h)
http://www.jtjohnson.com [EMAIL PROTECTED]
"You never change things by fighting the existing reality.
To change something, build a new model that makes the
existing model obsolete."
-- Buckminster
Fuller
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FRIAM Applied Complexity Group listserv
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FRIAM Applied Complexity Group listserv
Meets Fridays 9a-11:30 at cafe at St. John's College
lectures, archives, unsubscribe, maps at http://www.friam.org
