Jessica Otis explains the historical significance of tallies in English culture and their connection to the development of numbers and arithmetic. She highlights how tallies symbolized financial transactions and were used as a form of currency, influencing the evolution of the stock market. Otis also delves into the transition from object-based reckoning, like tally-sticks and counting boards, to the more abstract Arabic numerals and the role they played in the democratization of mathematical knowledge. The interplay of different systems of counting, including finger counting and Roman numerals, reflects a fascinating evolution in early modern England’s quantitative landscape.
https://www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v46/n20/tom-johnson/big-data-for-the-leviathan