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People can understand numbers without naming them

discovermagazine.com — Everybody has one--even rats and pigeons, to say nothing of people. The ability to grasp small numbers and map them onto a number line in the brain is an evolutionary birthright of ours. Arithmetic, of course, is another matter.

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pizzler 81 days ago, made popular 80 days ago

423 diggs
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alanr19, on 06/20/2008, -5/+14It's like magic. Like the way I can recognize a chicks hotness without knowing her name.

Its almost as if we have some sort of recognition ability that is independent of language.

As awesome as it is obvious.
- Puffles, on 06/20/2008, -7/+2What? How the hell is being able to tell whether an anonymous chick is hot or not "like magic"?
  - alanr19, on 06/20/2008, -1/+13Sarcasm may well be the lowest form of wit, but it went clean over your head.
    
    Have a great day.
    - Puffles, on 06/20/2008, -2/+4Ah, it makes sense now.
      
      My sarcasm detector is usually offline when I'm tired. I apologize for my stupidity.
    - csw1342, on 06/20/2008, -1/+1Probably will continue having great days for a long time to come.
DroppedGT, on 06/20/2008, -0/+7N., "2 + 2 = 3" Approximately*
- lekahe, on 06/20/2008, -0/+8Are you an engineer?
- dsmx, on 06/20/2008, -0/+62+2/2=3
- p3ngwin, on 06/20/2008, -7/+12+2/2=4 (2 plus 2, divide answer by 2 = 2)
  
  2+(2/2)=3
  - paidhima, on 06/20/2008, -1/+5Actually, 2+2/2=3. 2+(2/2)=3 is the identical equation. (2+2)/2=4. Order of Operations processes multiplicative operands before sum operands, unless sum operands are enclosed in parentheses.
- d3dm, on 06/20/2008, -0/+1"2 + 2 = 3"....
  
  Plus a constant!
lekahe, on 06/20/2008, -12/+1Sorry pizzler. but this is the worst submission you ever made!
I Dugg it because I am going to blog this ;)

GOD did not create any numbers. We have the ability to tell if one finger is missing.

All the other stuff is made by mathematicians and thus no evolution is involved.
and fp with this less than 60 diggs.....
- aussieNickuss, on 06/20/2008, -0/+5Some would say that god didn't create numbers, as there's no physical proof at all that there actually is a god. =)
  - Metasquares, on 06/20/2008, -2/+1And others would say that numbers ARE God.
  - tian2992, on 06/21/2008, -0/+1You know, there is no evidence that there is not one…
robszol, on 06/20/2008, -0/+2addition, subtraction and all that jazz can be easily visualized with like and unlike objects, grouped together and manipulated...And differentiating them would be the metaphorical equivalent to nuking them
9bpm9, on 06/20/2008, -4/+1Math bores me so much that this article managed to do the same to me. And I usually like weird medial stuff.
- LucasVB, on 06/20/2008, -1/+2"I am accustomed, as a professional mathematician, to living in a sort of vacuum, surrounded by people who declare with an odd sort of pride that they are mathematically illiterate." - David Mumford
vroom101, on 06/20/2008, -0/+2Excellent article!
rabbro, on 06/20/2008, -0/+52008 - 1997 = 11 years old

still good though :)
ethornquist, on 06/20/2008, -0/+2So now Cookie Monster can simply eat cookies w/o counting them, right?
Oh yeah, can't mention ole' Googly Eyes because his snack habits ain't PC.
Then again, so is calling him Googly Eyes.

And what's an acceptable name for the Artist formerly known
for devouring COOOOOO-KIEEEEEEEES?

Discover = discussion
dsa202, on 06/20/2008, -1/+1123456789

What is wrong with this number sequence?
- ryan83189, on 06/20/2008, -1/+2nothing, same as this one 875476876354325658690700970988765745652341452687908657864335465433221423256285
J0415, on 06/20/2008, -1/+1tl;dr
d3dm, on 06/20/2008, -0/+1About a quarter to four. Oooh, I smell bacon!
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People can understand numbers without naming them

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