Some qualitative mathematics in China

Stafford, Charles ORCID: 0000-0002-8024-5563 (2010) Some qualitative mathematics in China. Anthropological Theory, 10 (1-2). pp. 81-86. ISSN 1463-4996

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Abstract

In this article, inspired by Lévi-Strauss’s comments on ‘qualitative mathematics’, I outline some features of Chinese cultural practices related to number and quantification. More specifically, I note that Chinese numerological practices are embedded in a more generally ‘structuralist’ and mathematical way of conceiving experience; that taken together they comprise a loose, and even ‘creative’ (rather than precise/rationalistic) type of life-accounting; and that number use in China is often emotionally loaded.

Item Type:	Article
Official URL:	http://ant.sagepub.com/
Additional Information:	© 2010 by SAGE Publications
Divisions:	Asia Centre Anthropology
Subjects:	D History General and Old World > DS Asia G Geography. Anthropology. Recreation > GN Anthropology
Date Deposited:	23 Jul 2010 11:02
Last Modified:	01 Feb 2025 02:06
URI:	http://eprints.lse.ac.uk/id/eprint/28714

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