Arithmetic, Numeracy, Literacy, Imagination

About

2021 Junior Fellows Amal Charara and Sean DiLeonardi worked with science, technology and business materials related to the history of arithmetic in order to examine how and why we count. Techniques of counting follow us everywhere, from the classroom to the counting house, yet much of the Business Division's holdings on these topics from the 18th century to the present remain understudied. Together, Charara and DiLeonardi collected textbooks, business guides, and other documents to compose a research guide on the business history of arithmetic for the benefit of future researchers. Specifically, DiLeonardi's research examined the proliferation of visual devices and memory aides - from flashcards to math poems that made up an industry of imagination in the 19th century. Charara's research followed the business of counting into the political arena to explore how scientists, mathematicians and other professionals throughout the centuries count crowds of people attending major events, such as inaugurations of presidents. Estimating the number of people involves concepts such as numeracy, equations, density and area. As Junior Fellows, they demonstrated how, throughout history, the business of arithmetic encompasses diverse skills - from numeracy to imagination - as well as diverse counters, from pupils to scientists.

Human-made No record of this work says a model made it. What this means.

Archive

Library of Congress, in Library of Congress: talks and concerts

Licence or status

Rights statement at the Library of Congress, as the Library of Congress states it.

Credit

Library of Congress

Language

English

Country

United States

Who can watch

The archive gives no rating. Invisible Network shows it to Tweens profiles and older, judged from its collection and subjects. How films are placed