Chapter 5 - The Development of Arithmetic

Summary

In Chapter 5, the focus is on the development of arithmetical operations. I review empirical literature and argue that addition has plausibly developed as a direct continuation of counting procedures, which in turn made it possible to develop other arithmetical operations (multiplication, subtraction, and division). After that, reviewing literature on different cultures, I show the importance of arithmetical applications for the development of arithmetic – or the lack of it. While arithmetical operations have developed in similar ways in different cultures (when arithmetic was indeed developed), in the final section I show how some aspects of Western arithmetic – for example, proofs, axiomatisations and infinity – are more culturally specific.