December 16, 2018 Sunday
Bedtime Story
Numeracy: Approximate Number System
A person with number sense understands the
relationships between numbers and is able to solve mathematical problems
outside the realms of common mathematical algorithms or the set patterns
routinely taught in schools.
More broadly, one can define number sense
as an intuitive understanding of numbers rather than a formally taught concept
that allows an individual to estimate their magnitude or relative magnitudes,
relationships and how they are affected by different mathematical operations.
When one speaks about number sense one is
not too much concerned with the ability to solve specific exam-oriented
problems and get accurate answers but a general ability to approximate anything
in real life circumstances related to numbers.
Such level of numeracy is quite often found
in members of baniya community, small-time traders, families running mom and
pop stores, money lenders and perhaps professionals such as lawyers/doctors/accountants
running their small practice.
Evolutionarily the minds of human apes
developed two co-existing types of number sense.
First is the approximate number system that
is a part of our large tool set of cognitive system that allows us to estimate
the magnitude of any group without necessarily relying on language or mathematical
symbols.
This is an innate skill found even in
infants (prior to their formal numerical education) and also other animals and
is variable.
It is very likely that the great apes
(family Hominidae that include us along with chimpanzees, gorillas and
orangutans) and even the lesser apes (family Hylobatidae that include gibbons
and siamangs) utilize a similar numerical processing mechanism.
Even birds, fishes and some insects possess
this innate approximate number system since it is evolutionarily advantageous
and perhaps necessary for the life’s most crucial two-fold game of survival and
mating.
Primates have shown the most sophistication
of them all with the ability to deal with simple fractions which is of course
very imprecise and nowhere close to us hairless apes.
Let me surprise you even further.
As if it was not surprising enough for the
animals to have a number sense plants too have shown to possess it.
It is evident in the carnivorous plant
known as Venus flytrap that possesses a special type of leave layered with tiny
hairs on their inner surface that serve as triggers to the plant specialized
leaves.
The leaves are the traps that snarl in
unsuspecting insects that the plant feeds on which is itself quite remarkable.
Now just for one instance look from this
carnivore’s perspective and see the problem that it faces as it lays in wait
for its unsuspecting victim:
It has to shut its trap when an insect
crawls on but it also needs to conserve its energy by not closing on numerous
other non-living stuff that may happen to fall on it lacking any nutritive
value.
Stay tuned to the voice of an
average story storytelling chimpanzee or login at http://panarrans.blogspot.com
Good night Mon Ami and my fellow cousin ape.
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Another great educator and a teacher that I am aware of is
Professor Subhashish Chattopadhyay in Bangalore, India.
While I narrate stories, Professor Subhashish an electronic engineer
and a former professor at BARC, does and teaches real mathematics and physics.
He started the participation of Indian students at the
International Physics Olympiad.
Do visit him here:
All his books can be downloaded for free through this link:
For edutainment and English education of your children, I
recommend this large collection of Halloween Songs for Kids:
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