He attended Phillips Academy, Andover and Dartmouth College (B.A., 1879, A.M., 1887) and later Syracuse University (Ph.D., 1893), studying mathematics.
This was a seminal work in the anthropological and psychological study of numerals, focusing on the analysis of Native American number systems from a generally cultural evolutionist theoretical perspective.
Conant's ethnographic data generally reflected the limited development of anthropology at the time.
Conant's characterization of the numeral systems of Native American languages as 'primitive' or 'savage' is not widely accepted today.
Conant's work, however, influenced scholars such as Lucien Lévy-Bruhl, and represented the first systematic comparative analysis of numeral systems of North America.