2010/01/01 by Ilaria Berteletti, Daniela Lucangeli, Manuela Piazza +2 · 278 citations
Mathematics · Psychology · Social Sciences · #Algorithm #Arabic numerals #Arithmetic #Coding (social sciences) #Cognition #Cognitive and developmental aspects of mathematical skills #Computer science #Demography #Education Methods and Practices #Estimation #Logarithm #Mathematical analysis #Mathematics #Mathematics Education and Teaching Techniques #Mathematics education #Number line #Numeral system #Numerosity adaptation effect #Population #Psychology #Range (aeronautics) #Statistics
paper · doi:10.1037/a0017887
published in Developmental Psychology 46(2), 545-551 (American Psychological Association)
openalex publication_date 2010/01/01 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/18
Children's sense of numbers before formal education is thought to rely on an approximate number system based on logarithmically compressed analog magnitudes that increases in resolution throughout childhood. School-age children performing a numerical estimation task have been shown to increasingly rely on a formally appropriate, linear representation and decrease their use of an intuitive, logarithmic one. We investigated the development of numerical estimation in a younger population (3.5- to 6.5-year-olds) using 0-100 and 2 novel sets of 1-10 and 1-20 number lines. Children's estimates shifted from logarithmic to linear in the small number range, whereas they became more accurate but increasingly logarithmic on the larger interval. Estimation accuracy was correlated with knowledge of Arabic numerals and numerical order. These results suggest that the development of numerical estimation is built on a logarithmic coding of numbers--the hallmark of the approximate number system--and is subsequently shaped by the acquisition of cultural practices with numbers.