The Number Sense: How the Mind Creates Mathematics, Revised and Updated Edition

Our Understanding Of How The Human Brain Performs Mathematical Calculations Is Far From Complete, But In Recent Years There Have Been Many Exciting Breakthroughs By Scientists All Over The World. Now, In The Number Sense, Stanislas Dehaene Offers A Fascinating Look At This Recent Research, In An Enlightening Exploration Of The Mathematical Mind. Dehaene Begins With The Eye-opening Discovery That Animals--including Rats, Pigeons, Raccoons, And Chimpanzees--can Perform Simple Mathematical Calculations, And That Human Infants Also Have A Rudimentary Number Sense. Dehaene Suggests That This Rudimentary Number Sense Is As Basic To The Way The Brain Understands The World As Our Perception Of Color Or Of Objects In Space, And, Like These Other Abilities, Our Number Sense Is Wired Into The Brain. These Are But A Few Of The Wealth Of Fascinating Observations Contained Here.^ Part One: Our Numerical Heritage -- Talented And Gifted Animals ; Babies Who Count ; The Adult Number Line -- Part Two: Beyond Approximation ; The Language Of Numbers ; Small Heads For Big Calculations ; Geniuses And Prodigies -- Part Three: Of Neurons And Numbers ; Losing Number Sense ; The Computing Brain ; What Is A Number? -- Part Four: The Contemporary Science Of Number And Brain ; The Number Sense, Fifteen Years Later. Stanislas Dehaene. Includes Bibliographical References (p. 281-306) And Index.