The Atlantic Monthly

The Atlantic Monthly, Volume 5,
No. 28,
by Various

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Title: The Atlantic Monthly, Volume 5, No. 28, February, 1860
Author: Various
Release Date: December 2, 2006 [EBook #19995]
Language: English
Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1
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THE
ATLANTIC MONTHLY.
A MAGAZINE OF LITERATURE, ART, AND POLITICS.
VOL. V.--FEBRUARY, 1860.--NO. XXVIII.

Transcriber's Note: Minor typos have been corrected. Footnotes have
been moved to the end of the article.

COUNTING AND MEASURING.
Though, from the rapid action of the eye and the mind, grouping and
counting by groups appear to be a single operation, yet, as things can
be seen in succession only, however rapidly, the counting of things,
whether ideal or real, is necessarily one by one. This is the first step of
the art. The second step is grouping. The use of grouping is to
economize speech in numeration, and writing in notation, by the
exercise of the memory. The memorizing of groups is, therefore, a part
of the primary education of every individual. Until this art is attained,
to a certain extent, it is very convenient to use the fingers as
representatives of the individuals of which the groups are composed.
This practice led to the general adoption of a group derived from the
fingers of the left hand. The adoption of this group was the first distinct
step toward mental arithmetic. Previous groupings were for particular
numerations; this for numeration in general; being, in fact, the first
numeric base,--the quinary. As men advanced in the use of numbers,
they adopted a group derived from the fingers of both hands; thus ten
became the base of numeration.
Notation, like numeration, began with ones, advanced to fives, then to
tens, etc. Roman notation consisted of a series of signs signifying 1, 5,
10, 50, 100, 500, 1000, etc.,--a series evidently the result of counting

by the five fingers and the two hands, the numbers signified being the
products of continued multiplication by five and by two alternately.
The Romans adhered to their mode, nor is it entirely out of use at the
present day, being revered for its antiquity, admired for its beauty, and
practised for its convenience.
The ancient Greek series corresponded to that of the Romans, though
primarily the signs for 50, 500 and 5000 had no place. Ultimately,
however, those places were supplied by means of compound signs.
The Greeks abandoned their ancient mode in favor of the alphabetic,
which, as it signified by a single letter each number of the arithmetical
series from one to nine separately, and also in union by multiplication
with the successive powers of the base of numeration, was a decided
improvement; yet, as it consisted of signs which by their number were
difficult to remember, and by their resemblance easy to mistake, it was
far from being perfect.
Doubtless, strenuous efforts were made to remedy these defects, and,
apparently as the result of those efforts, the Arabic or Indian mode
appeared; which, signifying the powers of the base by position, reduced
the number of signs to that of the arithmetical series, beginning with
nought and ending with a number of the value of the base less one.
The peculiarity of the Arabic mode, therefore, in comparison with the
Greek, the Roman, or the alphabetic, is place value; the value of a
combination by either of these being simply equal to the sum of its
elements. By that, the value of the successive places, counting from
right to left, being equal to the successive powers of the base,
beginning with the noughth power, each figure in the combination is
multiplied in value by the power of the base proper to its place, and the
value of the whole is equal to the sum of those products.
The Arabic mode is justly esteemed one of the happiest results of
human intelligence; and though the most complex ever practised, its
efficiency, as an arithmetical means, has obtained for it the reputation
of great simplicity,--a reputation that extends even to the present base,
which, from its intimate and habitual association with the mode, is

taken to be a part of the mode itself.
With regard to this impression it may be remarked, that the qualities
proper to a