Counting - Blog Posts
In the remote Arctic almost 30 years ago, a group of Inuit middle school students and their teacher invented the Western Hemisphere’s first new number system in more than a century. The “Kaktovik numerals,” named after the Alaskan village where they were created, looked utterly different from decimal system numerals and functioned differently, too. But they were uniquely suited for quick, visual arithmetic using the traditional Inuit oral counting system, and they swiftly spread throughout the region. Now, with support from Silicon Valley, they will soon be available on smartphones and computers—creating a bridge for the Kaktovik numerals to cross into the digital realm.
Today’s numerical world is dominated by the Hindu-Arabic decimal system. This system, adopted by almost every society, is what many people think of as “numbers”—values expressed in a written form using the digits 0 through 9. But meaningful alternatives exist, and they are as varied as the cultures they belong to.
Continue Reading
is it autistic of me to use a metronome app to fall asleep to. the highest number i’ve gotten to before losing track or falling asleep is like five hundred something
before anyone gets mad I AM AUTISTIC THATS THE JOKE IM NOT AIMING TO OFFEND
haiku
the act to conjure
a haiku may take patience
and finger counting.
Yeah, they are pretty similar.
Another thing I didn't mention in the ask was thus:
Say a culture has a word for sand: Nate. ['natɛ]
If one Nate is one grain of sand, what are Multiple Nate (Natel).
What does Natel represent? Multiple grains of sand? A pile of sand? Would they have a new word for a pile of sand? Would it be derived from Nate? Should it be considered plural? It is referring to *a* pile, but it's referring to a *pile*, which has lots of sand grains!
This kind of thing keeps me up at night.
Again, sorry for ranting.
CW: Venting then asking for opinion
I stayed up last night thinking. About what? Sand.
But not sand itself. Nono. Counting with sand.
When you count sand, you count grains of sand. Then you say it's a pile of sand. Then a dune of sand. Then it's just... sand. But there is no clear distinction between any of those counting words.
When does "grains of sand" become "a pile of sand" become "a dune of sand?"
Sand doesn't even have a plural. Think about it. You cannot refer to multiples of sand without using another words. Sands? Nope. Types of sand.
You might say it's the same as with Bison and Sheep, but those can be counted. (1 Bison, 2 Bison, 1 sheep, 354 sheep) You can't count with sand. (1 sand? 2 sand? what?)
Opinions on the subject? Sorry for ranting
Yeah, it's certainly an interesting subject. I remember hearing about this thought experiment with snowflakes instead of sand. Like how many little flakes have to fall in one particular place before you notice you have a small pile of snow? And how many flakes would you have to take away for it to *cease* being a snow pile?
I guess snow and sand are similar things. Like sand has grains, and snow has flakes. But when you have enough flakes grouped together, it just becomes... snow.
when a song hits so hard your chest physically hurts
As a repeated jellybean counting contest winner, I wanted to share with you all my secret so that you can win prizes too this holiday season.
As a young child and adult, I have used this method and won each time. You can guess the volume in this odd unit using these steps.
Identify the shape of the jar. Is it a cube, rectangular prism or a cylinder?
What I'm describing below is for a cylinder, the most common jar shape.
First, obtain RADIUS: If you are allowed to touch and pick up the jellybean jar, you can count jellybeans in a straight line across the bottom of the jar. If you are disallowed from touching the container, just count across the the top in a straight line. The full line across of this circle is known as the diameter. Half the line across is known as the radius. You can count all the way across and then divide in half. You may be cutting the jellybean in half and get a decimal when you do this. No problem.
Second, count your HEIGHT: This is the easy step. You just count the front face of the container. Count jellybeans in a straight line up the side of the jar. This is your height.
Plug and calculate: For a cylinder jar, your volume can be found by calculating 3.14 x RADIUS² x HEIGHT.
So multiply your radius first since PEMDAS tells us the exponent needs dealt with first. Squaring a number is just that number multiplied by itself. After you have that, multiply by pi and by the jellybean height.
The answer you get could be a fraction or decimal. More than likely, the person who put the jellybeans in the jar did not include halved beans. So round up your number if it ends in .5 or higher. And round down to the nearest whole number if it ends in .4 or lower.
**If you have a complex jar shape, mentally cut the jar where the shapes change! Then calculate using the different volume formulas.
I hope this helps someone win a gift card or impress someone at a Christmas party!
