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Exact and Approximate Arithmetic in an Amazonian Indigene Group

Open access
Pica, Pierre, Lemer, Cathy, Izard, Véronique, Dehaene, Stanislas·2004·Science

Abstract

Is calculation possible without language? Or is the human ability for arithmetic dependent on the language faculty? To clarify the relation between language and arithmetic, we studied numerical cognition in speakers of Mundurukú, an Amazonian language with a very small lexicon of number words. Although the Mundurukú lack words for numbers beyond 5, they are able to compare and add large approximate numbers that are far beyond their naming range. However, they fail in exact arithmetic with numbers larger than 4 or 5. Our results imply a distinction between a nonverbal system of number approximation and a language-based counting system for exact number and arithmetic.

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Metadata

Authors
Pica, P., Lemer, C., Izard, V., & Dehaene, S.
Venue
Science
Published
2004-10-15
Volume
306
Issue
5695
Pages
499-503
ISSN
  • 0036-8075 (ISSN-L)
  • 1095-9203
OpenAlex
W2053138397
Cited by
1,298
References
3
FWCI
28.87
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
green

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CoChat. (2026). Citation check: Exact and Approximate Arithmetic in an Amazonian Indigene Group. https://app.cochat.ai/papers/10.1126/science.1102085
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Pica, P., Lemer, C., Izard, V., & Dehaene, S. (2004). Exact and Approximate Arithmetic in an Amazonian Indigene Group. Science. https://doi.org/10.1126/science.1102085

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