Re-evaluating merit: Multiple overlapping factors explain the evolution of numerical notations

ABSTRACT

How should we evaluate the merit of written numeral systems? The present ubiquity of the Hindu-Arabic (Western) numerals might suggest that narrow considerations of efficiency have promoted the convergence of numerical traditions on a single, superior solution. Comparing the historical evolution of numerical notations to the history of writing systems suggests, instead, that a host of social factors influence the adoption, transmission, retention and replacement of numeral systems. The wide range of contextual uses and functions of written numerals belie any simple explanation of the choices underlying their abandonment. Following the criteria outlined by Coulmas, a sociolinguistic model is proposed in which a wide variety of technical, graphic and cultural factors must be considered in order to fully explain the historical record.

KEYWORDS:

• Numerical notation
• Evolution of writing
• Cultural transmission
• Written numerals
• Numeration
• Cross-cultural comparison

Acknowledgements

Many thanks to Julie Lesnik, Karenleigh Overmann and Julia Pope for reviewing earlier versions of this manuscript and providing helpful suggestions. Some of the ideas presented here were discussed, in a slightly different format, in the workshop ‘The cultural dimensions of numerical cognition’, organised by Andrea Bender and Sieghard Beller, from which the ideas in this paper have benefited greatly. Many thanks to the three anonymous peer reviewers who provided extremely useful notes for revision. Any remaining errors are, of course, my own.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.

Notes on contributor

Stephen Chrisomalis is Associate Professor of Anthropology at Wayne State University in Detroit, Michigan. His research focuses on written numerals and numeration across cognitive anthropology, linguistic anthropology, and historical sociolinguistics. He earned his PhD in anthropology from McGill University in 2003. His book, Numerical Notation: A Comparative History, a cross-cultural analysis of written number systems, was published by Cambridge University Press in 2010.

ORCID

Stephen Chrisomalis http://orcid.org/0000-0003-3636-7683