ISBN : 9782924651179
Year of publication : 2017
Nombre de pages : 209
Langue : Anglais#French</trp-gettext#!trpEnglish#
Why has humanity developed numbering systems? What are their advantages and disadvantages?
Mankind has long since found various ways of representing specific quantities of objects in writing (using signs, for example). But the development of society (the need to count personal possessions, the fiscal organization of cities, trade, etc.) soon necessitated calculations, i.e. the invention of elementary arithmetic (calculations involving addition, subtraction, multiplication, etc.).
The writing of numbers then evolved, on the one hand to enable the simple representation of quantities and, on the other, to facilitate calculations.
This evolution led to the creation of sets of signs and rules for representing numbers, known as numeration systems.
In this book, we attempt to show how and why our decimal numbering system is one of the most advantageous for the development of arithmetic. We will also offer a detailed study of the elementary operations defined in the set of natural numbers, their properties and uses.
Gustavo Barallobres is a professor of mathematics didactics in the Department of Specialized Education and Training at the Université du Québec à Montréal and a member of the Groupe d'études sur l'enseignement/apprentissage des mathématiques en adaptation scolaire (GEMAS) at the Université du Québec à Montréal. He is also a researcher at the "Culture et diffusion des savoirs" laboratory, Université Victor Segalen, Bordeaux 2, France.
