reply to post by smithjustinb
True math is logarithmic. Everything else is a human lexicographic abstraction. Counting is a learned faculty, like saying the alphabet. But you do
not need to know the sequence of numbers to be able to use math (i.e., navigate the geometry and physics that surround you all day long) just as you
do not need to know the alphabet (i.e., to be literate in an abstract system of symbols to represent speech) in order to speak.
Math as we know it seems to overlay the "real math". There is an interesting discussion about this on Radio Lab (one of those shows that is
contracted out to NPR). You can listen to it
here...the whole show is interesting, but I particularly
found the part about Amazonian tribes and young children to be the most interesting concept here. I've done cognitive linguistic research into the
concept of numbering and plurals and the findings are pretty interesting. Many pre-literate tribes tend to not have 1, 2, 3, 4, etc., but rather none,
1, 1-ish, a bunch....no more precise than that.