Exact and Approximate Arithmetic in an Amazonian Indigene Group

@article{Pica2004ExactAA,
  title={Exact and Approximate Arithmetic in an Amazonian Indigene Group},
  author={Pierre Pica and Cathy Lemer and V{\'e}ronique Izard and Stanislas Dehaene},
  journal={Science},
  year={2004},
  volume={306},
  pages={499 - 503}
}
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… 
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