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Even before they had words for numbers, human societies developed counting systems of varying sophistication to suit their activities. To count beyond a handful of units, they used the tools they always had to hand: their own bodies. The result was a range of ingenious methods for performing certain operations.
The small world of puzzle enthusiasts, collectors and puzzle makers is astonishingly diverse. It includes specialists in tilings and elegant dissections.
If you talk to people about the history of arithmetic, whatever your specific subject, you can expect someone to ask this question at the end: why is our numeral system base 10 when base 12 would be so much more practical?
Catherine Thevenot studies the link between number and space, notably through bees' innate abilities. Her work sheds light on how mathematical skills develop in children, whether or not they are affected by dyscalculia.
