| Titre | Large Numbers and Counting Rods | |
|---|---|---|
| Auteur | Alexeï K. Volkov | |
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Revue | Extrême-Orient, Extrême-Occident |
| Numéro | no 16, 1994 Sous les nombres, le monde : Matériaux pour l'histoire culturelle du nombre en Chine ancienne | |
| Rubrique / Thématique | I. Les constitutions du nombre |
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| Page | 71-92 | |
| Résumé anglais |
Alexeï Volkov' s paper treats the problem of the finiteness of numbers formulated in the IIIrd century (?) treatise Shu shu ji yi by Xu Yue, and commented in the VIth century by Zhen Luan. The author suggests that the treatise may have been used in the framework of debates on the Buddhist notion of reincarnation. A reference to a theoretical construction which allowed one to obtain numbers as large as desired (similar to that of Archimedes' Sand-Reckoner) is discussed, as well as the role of the counting devices in establishing a general notion of number. Source : Éditeur (via Persée) |
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| Article en ligne | http://www.persee.fr/web/revues/home/prescript/article/oroc_0754-5010_1994_num_16_16_991 |
