By strategiaynegocios.net

Fingerprints (counting hands) appear natural and clear. After all, it is no coincidence that we have 10 fingers on our hands, and the most common number system has 10 digits.

If humans had evolved with 8 or 12 fingers, a different number system would probably have predominated. in fact, the word “number” referring to numbers comes from the Latin digitus, which means finger or toe, because of the way we use them to count.

But this means that we all calculate in the same way: it turns out that in this world there are completely different ways to do something so simple and intuitive.

For example, if you are from England or many parts of Europe, you might start counting with your left thumb and end with your little finger. However if you are from the US or Canada you can start with your index finger and end with your thumb.

in the Middle East as Iranit starts with the little finger, while in Japan it starts with the fingers extended in the open palm, and closes until it reaches the fist.

In several places on East Africa as Tanzania, among speakers of some Bantu languages, symmetry is culturally important. That’s why when counting they use both hands to represent the number as symmetrically as possible: the number 6, for example, is shown with the index, middle and ring fingers of both hands.

Despite the differences, these are all variations on the same basic system: for each new number, you add a new finger.

This is what researchers call linear systema way of counting on the fingers that for a long time seemed so innate or universal to many of them that they considered it unique.

“The researchers assumed that children basically counted on their fingers—particularly as we do in the West—as an important tool for understanding number concepts and for learning to count,” said Andrea Bender, Professor of Cognition, Culture, and Language at the University of Bergen, in Norway.

Pame natives of northern Mexico, has knuckles except for the thumb, so that both hands are used to count to 8; speakers of the (now extinct) Yuki language in California use between the fingers.

In Indiafor example, the major limitation of the previous method – running out of fingers to count – is overcome by counting finger lines.

In the same India, in the state of Maharashtra, dealers use their left hand to count to 5, and with their right hand they record how many sets of 5 have been counted. So the deft radius represents a different dimension: a multiple of 5.

Combining the two methods – one of finger lines and two dimensions – allows counting 20 sets of 20 or even 400.

With information from BBC World