byRituparna Nath Content Writer at Study Abroad Exams
Reading Passage Questions
Archeologists excavating sites in the “Fertile Crescent” region of the Middle East have found huge amounts of small clay tokens. These tokens varied greatly in size and shape and had fairly detailed pictographs pressed into them. Anthropologists fiercely debated the function of the tokens. Many researchers thought the tokens had religious significance; after all, the region had a rich, well-documented spiritual tradition, as evidenced by the splendidly designed temple at Uruk. Other scholars believed that the tokens were a sort of game piece or toy. However, neither explanation was wholly satisfying to the anthropological community. Finally, in 1970, Denise Schmandt-Besserat unlocked the secret of the tokens. They were accounting tools, with the quantity and type of the good indicated by the pictograph on the piece.
Cognitive scientists have since shown that all humans, and even some animals, possess the ability to subitize—that is, to recognize instantly the difference between one, two, and three objects, although Kaufman et al have established that this ability differs from actual counting. In order to move from mere subitizing to actual counting and arithmetic requires the ability to employ metaphor, according to Lakoff and Nunez. Arithmetic began, contend Lakoff and Nunez, when early humans used metaphor to map from the domain of concrete physical objects to the domain of abstract or symbolic numbers. Lakoff and Nunez have shown that by starting with a tangible collection of objects and then adding or subtracting from that collection allows all of the abstract arithmetic axioms to be construed. The ancient Sumerian tokens, which used symbols to represent actual quantities of items, represent perhaps the first instance of this sort of metaphorical mapping. Indeed, many credit ancient Sumerians with the invention of mathematics.
“Archeologists excavating sites in the “Fertile Crescent” region of the Middle East have found huge amounts of small clay tokens.” - is a GMAT reading comprehension passage with answers. Candidates need a strong knowledge of English GMAT reading comprehension.
This GMAT Reading Comprehension consists of 3 comprehension questions. The GMAT Reading Comprehension questions are designed for testing candidates’ abilities in understanding, analyzing, and applying information or concepts. Candidates can actively prepare with the help of GMAT Reading Comprehension Practice Questions.
Solution and Explanation
Q1) Which of the following best states the main idea of the passage?
A) The discovery of ancient Sumerian tokens depicting quantities of goods provides compelling evidence that the ability to subitize is universal.
B) The ability to metaphorically map concrete objects as abstract symbols first occurred in ancient Sumerian civilizations.
C) Discoveries in cognitive science concerning the nature of mathematical thought coupled with archeological evidence indicate that the Sumerians were one of the founders of mathematics.
D) Mathematics would not have developed without the emergence of a metaphorizing capacity.
E) Counting and arithmetic differ from subitizing in that subitizing is a universal phenomenon while counting and arithmetic are localized.
Answer: C
Explanation: The author in the passage states that in 1970, Denise Schmandt-Besserat had unlocked the secret of tokens. He added about accounting tools and the quantity and type of the goods that are indicated by the pictograph on the piece. Hence option C strongly supports this argument.
Q2) The author’s claim about the ability to subitize would be most strengthened by the discovery of which of the following?
A)A Wedda man from a Sri Lankan tribe who represents the number of coconuts in his collection by assigning a corresponding clam shell to each coconut
B)An individual who, after sustaining a serious head injury, loses the ability to add and subtract numbers
C)A numbering system from an early Chinese civilization that closely resembles a system developed by a Meso-American culture
D)A tribe with lifestyles and customs unchanged since the Stone Age whose language contains words which designate only between “few” and “many”
E)A nomadic people who keep track of the days of their wandering by making notches in a thighbone
Answer: A
Explanation: The author in the passage implies the ability to differentiate between objects. This is different from the ability to do arithmetic. Hence options B, C, D, and E deal with counting. Option B talks about the ability to do the arithmetic operations. Option C talks about the number system. Option D deals with Quantity. and Option E deals with the number of days,i.e Quantity. So option A is the correct answer.
Q3) The author of the passage would most likely agree with which of the following statements:
A) The discovery of the ability in some chimpanzees to count would not cause cognitive scientists to rethink their position on the nature of mathematics.
B) Cognitive scientists should expect human infants to be able to differentiate up to three objects.
C) The ability to subitize requires the same mental faculties as the ability to count and perform arithmetic.
D) The earliest known use of the metaphorizing capacity in humans involved the mapping of goods onto clay tokens.
E) Arithmetic axioms, rather than being accepted as inherently true, can be proven by the manipulation of concrete collections of objects.
Answer: B
Explanation: In the second paragraph of the passage the author states about the ability to subitize. He implies the difference between one, two, and three objects. Later, Kaufman et al established the ability that differs from actual counting. Hence option B is the correct answer.
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