Arithmetic and our Sharing Culture

Discussion
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We al learn to do division
“If there are 6 cakes and 3 children, how many cakes does each child get”
Division is about sharing

But it does not always work
“It there are 2 sharks and 8 people in a pool, how many people does each shark get?”
Division can not answer that question.
Because that example is not about sharing , it is about competition
Whether division works depends on what are called the “Rules of Engagement”

We all learnt to multiply
“If 10 children each bring 2 apples, how many apples are there?”
Multiplication is about pooling
Multiplication is the inverse of division

It is amazing how these simple arithmetical calculations parallel human activity.

  • only humans share. Animals , by and large, compete, excpet perhaps in feeding young
  • only humans make common pools. Animals do store food, but for individual use. Insects store food communally.
  • Only humans do arithmetic
  • Arithmetic is not something genetically inherited. … each generation has to be taught it. It is cultural inheritance , not DNA.
  • Sharing is not something genetically inherited. … kids have to be taught to share. If left untaught, they will compete.

Where did all this start?
How did our maths come to be so linked to our community skills?
Are there any Cultural Anthropologists who can shed light on this, or is it lost in pre-history?

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My wife and I just had a big discussion about this, so what is the point!!! The 3R’s were taught, when, I was in school, not really sure, on what is being taught now!!!

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“only humans share. Animals , by and large, compete, excpet perhaps in feeding young” : not true; look at pets in a house when cats and dogs eat from each other’s food and leave some for the others.

Check Marcel Mauss’s theory of gift

Traditional societies kept it… until the age of smartphones probably.

I think it is related to the brain hemisphere problem, as described by MacGilchrist here:

(except for his late New age bend –which certainly helps him pay his children university fees- the guy should be taught in schools)

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That is not sharing… because cats and dogs do not make the pool to share.

Thank you for the references… I am reading

That is an interesting thought.
It would imply that maths is just a reflection of our cultural or communal values… ie they are one thing in the brain.

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Regardless of the method of teaching, the point is these behaviours have to be taught. … both the arithmetic and the cultural skills .

I agree, modern education seems to neglect traditional skills… eg “dont bother with times table, learn to use a calculator”. I am not sure what the effect of that will be on our culture.

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I always smile when I read this reading writing and aritmetic

Shame spelling was not in the 3 list

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I suppose it was part of writing.
My High School had a fetish about spelling.

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We did the three R’s too in English class - reuse, reduce, recycle… But if they taught us that then, not sure what went wrong and almost nobody cares about them.

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