News Finding: If you're reading this article, you are almost certainly a user of the decimal system.
Paper Finding: And second, even in a preliterate society like Mangareva, the frequent exchange of goods by way of tributes and redistribution within 14, and beyond island boundaries generates a need for the aforementioned operations at least to some extent.
News Context: Perhaps far older than the invention of computers or even the invention of binary math in the West. If you're reading this article, you are almost certainly a user of the decimal system. Some Australian aboriginal groups may have used base-5.
Paper Context: First, addition and multiplication are already inherent in number word construction. And second, even in a preliterate society like Mangareva, the frequent exchange of goods by way of tributes and redistribution within 14, and beyond island boundaries generates a need for the aforementioned operations at least to some extent. Once this sequence is in place, abbreviation strategies lead almost automatically to certain types of basic arithmetic.