Our understanding of how the human brain performs mathematical
calculations is far from complete, but in recent years there have been
many exciting breakthroughs by scientists all over the world. Now, in
_The Number Sense_, Stanislas Dehaene offers a fascinating look at
this recent research, in an enlightening exploration of the
mathematical mind. Dehaene begins with the eye-opening discovery that
animals--including rats, pigeons, raccoons, and chimpanzees--can
perform simple mathematical calculations, and that human infants also
have a rudimentary number sense. Dehaene suggests that this
rudimentary number sense is as basic to the way the brain understands
the world as our perception of color or of objects in space, and, like
these other abilities, our number sense is wired into the brain. These
are but a few of the wealth of fascinating observations contained
here. We also discover, for example, that because Chinese names for
numbers are so short, Chinese people can remember up to nine or ten
digits at a time--English-speaking people can only remember seven. The
book also explores the unique abilities of idiot savants and
mathematical geniuses, and we meet people whose minute brain lesions
render their mathematical ability useless. This new and completely
updated edition includes all of the most recent scientific data on how
numbers are encoded by single neurons, and which brain areas activate
when we perform calculations. Perhaps most important, _The Number
Sense_ reaches many provocative conclusions that will intrigue anyone
interested in learning, mathematics, or the mind. "A delight." --Ian
Stewart, _New Scientist_"Read _The Number Sense_ for its rich insights
into matters as varying as the cuneiform depiction of numbers, why
Jean Piaget's theory of stages in infant learning is wrong, and to
discover the brain regions involved in the number sense." --_The New
York Times Book Review_"Dehaene weaves the latest technical research
into a remarkably lucid and engrossing investigation. Even readers
normally indifferent to mathematics will find themselves marveling at
the wonder of minds making numbers." --_Booklist_
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Produktdetaljer
ISBN
9780199910397
Publisert
2020
Utgiver
Vendor
Oxford University Press
Språk
Product language
Engelsk
Format
Product format
Digital bok
Forfatter