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String figures as mathematics? [electronic resource] : an anthropological approach to string figure-making in oral tradition societies / Eric Vandendriessche.

Vandenessche, Eric, author.
2015
GN455.S9
Available Online
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Title
String figures as mathematics? [electronic resource] : an anthropological approach to string figure-making in oral tradition societies / Eric Vandendriessche.
Author
Vandenessche, Eric, author.
ISBN
9783319119946 electronic book
331911994X electronic book
9783319119939
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-11994-6
Published
Cham : Springer, 2015.
Language
English
Description
1 online resource (xix, 392 pages) : illustrations (some color).
Item Number
10.1007/978-3-319-11994-6 doi
Call Number
GN455.S9
Dewey Decimal Classification
793.9
Summary
This book addresses the mathematical rationality contained in the making of string figures. It does so by using interdisciplinary methods borrowed from anthropology, mathematics, history and philosophy of mathematics. The practice of string figure-making has long been carried out in many societies, and particularly in those of oral tradition. It consists in applying a succession of operations to a string (knotted into a loop), mostly using the fingers and sometimes the feet, the wrists or the mouth. This succession of operations is intended to generate a final figure. The book explores different modes of conceptualization of the practice of string figure-making and analyses various source material through these conceptual tools: it looks at research by mathematicians, as well as ethnographical publications, and personal fieldwork findings in the Chaco, Paraguay, and in the Trobriand Islands, Papua New Guinea, which all give evidence of the rationality that underlies this activity. It concludes that the creation of string figures may be seen as the result of intellectual processes, involving the elaboration of algorithms, and concepts such as operation, sub-procedure, iteration, and transformation.
Bibliography, etc. Note
Includes bibliographical references and index.
Access Note
Access limited to authorized users.
Source of Description
Online resource; title from PDF title page (SpringerLink, viewed January 23, 2015).
Series
Studies in history and philosophy of science (Dordrecht. Netherlands) ; volume 36.
Available in Other Form
Print version: 9783319119939
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PART I: HOW TO STUDY STRING FIGURE-MAKING
Chapter 1: String Figures and Ethnography
Chapter 2: A Conceptualization of String Figure-Making
PART II: MATHEMATICS AND STRING FIGURES
Chapter 3: W.W. Rouse Ball?s Mathematical Approach to String Figures
Chapter 4: Thomas Storer and the Concept of Heart-Sequence
PART III: ANALYSING STRING FIGURE ALGORITHMS
Chapter 5: Heart-Sequences and "Look-alike" String Figures
Chapter 6: Understanding Transformations
PART IV: STRING FIGURES IN THE FIELD
Chapter 7: Cultural and Cognitive Aspects of String Figure-Making in Two Different Societies
Chapter 8: Comparison of the Trobriander and Guarani-Nandeva String Figure Corpora
Chapter 9: Conclusion
References
Annexes.

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