ABSTRACT
In a sense, Iqwaye counting is simply the mapping of singularity and plurality back upon one another. Iqwaye mathematics resembles the Cantorian counting of infini-ties in that it deals with number from the ‘outside’, that is in terms of its conceptual boundaries or foundations. By contrast, the Iqwayan mathematic, which eschews number theory, refers entirely to an imagery of the human body, in its physical and transformative character. Iqwayan mathematic, in other words, contains within it the movement between sign and image, modelled upon image. This is why Iqwayan mathematic is dialectical and recursive. For image can deal with a sign-world from the ‘outside’, in the way that a picture or a metaphor contains a vast, possibly infinite, range of potential glosses. The character of number and numerical relation can be qualitative, rather than a quantitative derivation from number theory.
