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CHAPTER VII.. The Art of Counting.

Primitive Culture, Vol. 1 (of 2) · Edward B. Tylor — chapter 6 of 26 · ~63 words · public domain

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THE ART OF COUNTING.

Ideas of Number derived from experience—State of Arithmetic among uncivilized races—Small extent of Numeral-words among low tribes—Counting by fingers and toes—Hand-numerals show derivation of Verbal reckoning from Gesture-counting—Etymology of Numerals—Quinary, Decimal, and Vigesimal notations of the world derived from counting on fingers and toes—Adoption of foreign Numeral-words—Evidence of development of Arithmetic from a low original level of Culture 240

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