Math Across Cultures

Mathematics Across Cultures: A History of Non-Western Mathematics consists of essays dealing with the mathematical knowledge and beliefs of cultures outside the United States and Europe. In addition to articles surveying Islamic, Chinese, Native American, Aboriginal Australian, Inca, Egyptian, and African mathematics, among others, the book includes essays on Rationality, Logic and Mathematics, and the transfer of knowledge from East to West. The essays address the connections between science and culture and relate the mathematical practices to the cultures which produced them. Each essay is well illustrated and contains an extensive bibliography. Because the geographic range is global, the book fills a gap in both the history of science and in cultural studies. It should find a place on the bookshelves of advanced undergraduate students, graduate students, and scholars, as well as in libraries serving those groups.

From the creators of the bestselling "The Explorabook" come innovative, hands-on math and science activities of many cultures. With instructions in this book, one can construct a Brazilian carnival instrument, play a peg solitaire game from Madagascar, or count like an Egyptian. Illustrations throughout.

Imagine mathematics, imagine with the help of mathematics, imagine new worlds, new geometries, new forms. The new volume in the series “Imagine Math” is intended to contribute to grasping how much that is interesting and new is happening in the relationships between mathematics, imagination and culture. The present book begins with the connections between mathematics, numbers, poetry and music, with the latest opera by Italian composer Claudio Ambrosini. Literature and narrative also play an important role here. There is cinema too, with the “erotic” mathematics films by Edward Frenkel, and the new short “Arithmétique “ by Munari and Rovazzani. The section on applications of mathematics features a study of ants, as well as the refined forms and surfaces generated by algorithms used in the performances by Adrien Mondot and Claire Bardainne. Last but not least, in honour of the hundredth anniversary of his birth, a mathematical, literary and theatrical homage to Alan Turing, one of the outstanding figures of the twentieth century.

The idea of the ICMI Study 13 is outlined as follows: Education in any social environment is influenced in many ways by the traditions of these environments. This study brings together leading experts to research and report on mathematics education in a global context. Mathematics education faces a split phenomenon of difference and correspondence. A study attempting a comparison between mathematics education in different traditions will be helpful to understanding this phenomenon.

For most people, the word mathematics is a noun. But for many people in different cultures, mathematics is not simply something they learn in school but something they do as an intrinsic part of their everyday lives. This book is a guide for teachers who would like to enhance their mathematics instruction by integrating it with examples and activities from cultures throughout the world. It provides culturally situated examples, each linked to Common Core objectives that show how mathematics can be so much more than a story problem or an exercise in a worksheet with little or no context. The eleven chapters provide a range of activities from around the world that teach students key math concepts while introducing them to a diversity of cultures. For example: In a Mayan village in Guatemala, students use math as a means to increase the traditional corn harvest Traditional symbols stamped on cloth in Ghana spark an exploration of geometry, measurement, and data analysis Embroidery patterns from Bulgaria can help younger students learn about patterns, and introduce older students to fractal geometry Klappenspiel, a popular classroom game in Germany, provides a fun application of probability analysis Each chapter has activities for specific grade bands (K–3, 4–8, and 9–12), and all activities are designed to encourage students to discover connections among math concepts, world cultures, and their own daily lives and communities.

In this truly one-of-a-kind book, Ascher introduces the mathematical ideas of people in traditional, or "small-scale", cultures often omitted from discussion of mathematics. Topics such as "Numbers: Words and Symbols", "Tracing Graphs in the Sand", "The Logic of Kin Relations", "Chance and Strategy in Games and Puzzles", and "The Organization and Modeling of Space" are traced in various cultures including the Inuit, Navajo, and Iroquois of North America; the Inca of South America; the Malekula, Warlpiri, Maori, and Caroline Islanders of Oceania, and the Tshokwe, Bushoong, and Kpelle of Africa. As Ascher explores mathematical ideas involving numbers, logic, spatial configuration, and the organization of these into systems and structures, readers gain both a broader understanding and anappreciation for the idease of other peoples.