Many people around the world are learning to count with their fingers. But not everyone follows the same method. Are there better methods of calculation with fingers?

How to calculate 10 digits with your fingers? Are you starting to count with your thumb? Or start with the index finger? Count first from left hand or right hand? Dactylonomy (the process of calculating by hand) seems to be an easy and natural method. Suppose it is used equally all over the world.

It is no coincidence that in arithmetic there are usually 10 digits and we have 10 fingers on our hand. Since we have ten fingers on our hands, we may develop a 10-digit counting system in basic mathematics.

If we were born 8 or 12 fingers, the statistics would be different.

The word “digitus” comes from the Latin word. Digitus means finger or toe. Digitized by VjOOQIC We use to calculate.

Easy to count with fingers. We assume that everyone counts in the same way with their fingers.

For example, if you are from the UK or other parts of Europe, the left hand will start counting from the thumb and ending with the little finger.

People in America start counting from the index finger and ending with the thumb.

Start with the little finger in the Middle Eastern country of Iran.

In Japan, the hand is opened first and then the fingers are counted one by one.

When the Mexican people used to count the fists … The Yuki speakers who disappeared in California also used to count the joints between the fingers.

These are all variations that we show in the basic number system calculation.

However, the cultural diversity in finger counting has not been properly recognized. ” Most researchers think there’s only one way to count with fingers. That fact must be taken into account. ”

When children learn to count, they use their fingers as a tool to try to understand numbers. In the past, researchers believed that the doctilonomy approach used by Westerners for children was appropriate. But there is reason to doubt this approach. The cultural differences in the use of fingers or body parts to count numbers have led to this suspicion. ”

In some parts of Tanzania in East Africa, they calculate to keep both hands as symmetrical as possible. For example, to point to number 6, they point to the index finger, middle finger, and ring finger of both hands. Large numbers cannot be calculated in this way. Because it doesn’t have enough fingers. But this problem does not occur in all areas.

For example, in the Indian school system, the lines between the fingers are used instead of fingers to count. That is, one finger represents 4 different numbers … one hand represents a total of 20 numbers. So we can count more numbers than Westerners use by hand.

Now researchers are referring to all the methods we have mentioned as single dimensional (one dimension – 1D) methods.

It also includes two-dimensional (2-dimensional-2D) approaches. These are used by traders in Maharashtra.

In this procedure up to 5 digits are counted with the fingers of the left hand. Assume it is a set and raise a finger on the right hand. Count 6 to 10 with the fingers of the left hand again, raising the two fingers of the right hand assuming it is the second set. It does up to five sets.

That is, we can recognize 25 digits in one hand. If this two dimensional method is applied in the Indian school system, 20×20 i.e. up to 400 hands can be calculated with both hands.

In some areas fingerprints and markers are used to count numbers regardless of the number of fingers.

In China, the American method is used to calculate 1 to 5. But the numbers 6 to 10 are represented by different symbols. Figure 6 indicates that the hand 6 is fully curved and only the thumb and little finger are raised. The clenching of the fists or the pointing of the index and middle fingers at each other is considered to be 10 digits.

Similarly in China there are symbols for counting more than ten digits with fingers.

The ancient Romans used clever symbols in numerology. Based on those symbols, they would point to thousands of numbers with bare hands. It is noteworthy that they also have a mark to indicate the number 9000.

The Chinese method can be used to some extent, but it is difficult to match the symbols that represent thousands of numbers in the Roman style.

Bender said the process of counting with the fingers was very diverse and that the researchers had only tapped into the counting methods used by people from different cultures. They revealed that their team will conduct a large survey to gather more information about this finger counting method around the world.

“We know very little about the diversity of this process. In fact, we can not imagine how big a difference it will make,” she said.

Scientists like Bender say that much remains to be learned about the relationship between language learning and gestures.

” Children growing up in different backgrounds are learning how to count numbers. Is it exciting to see what the intellectual implications are? ” Bender said.

Hundreds of thousands of years ago, our ancestors invented and developed various counting processes, Bender said.

Not only can you tell us where in the world you are, but you can also find out how we understand the concept of numbers through the finger counting process. It seems easy when you count one, two, three in the hands, but it’s not so easy.