Books > Science & Mathematics > Science: general issues > Philosophy of science
|
Buy Now
String Figures as Mathematics? - An Anthropological Approach to String Figure-making in Oral Tradition Societies (Hardcover, 2015 ed.)
Loot Price: R3,780
Discovery Miles 37 800
|
|
String Figures as Mathematics? - An Anthropological Approach to String Figure-making in Oral Tradition Societies (Hardcover, 2015 ed.)
Series: Studies in History and Philosophy of Science, 36
Expected to ship within 12 - 17 working days
|
This book addresses the mathematical rationality contained in the
making of string figures. It does so by using interdisciplinary
methods borrowed from anthropology, mathematics, history and
philosophy of mathematics. The practice of string figure-making has
long been carried out in many societies, and particularly in those
of oral tradition. It consists in applying a succession of
operations to a string (knotted into a loop), mostly using the
fingers and sometimes the feet, the wrists or the mouth. This
succession of operations is intended to generate a final figure.
The book explores different modes of conceptualization of the
practice of string figure-making and analyses various source
material through these conceptual tools: it looks at research by
mathematicians, as well as ethnographical publications, and
personal fieldwork findings in the Chaco, Paraguay, and in the
Trobriand Islands, Papua New Guinea, which all give evidence of the
rationality that underlies this activity. It concludes that the
creation of string figures may be seen as the result of
intellectual processes, involving the elaboration of algorithms,
and concepts such as operation, sub-procedure, iteration, and
transformation.
General
Is the information for this product incomplete, wrong or inappropriate?
Let us know about it.
Does this product have an incorrect or missing image?
Send us a new image.
Is this product missing categories?
Add more categories.
Review This Product
No reviews yet - be the first to create one!
|
|
Email address subscribed successfully.
A activation email has been sent to you.
Please click the link in that email to activate your subscription.