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Book Cover
E-book
Author Zaslavsky, Claudia

Title Africa Counts : Number and Pattern in African Culture
Edition 3rd ed
Published Los Angeles, CA : Chicago Review Press, 1999

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Description 1 online resource (369 pages)
Contents Section 1 Background: African mathematics? -- Historical background / Section 2 Numbers-words, gestures, significance: Construction of numeration systems -- How Africans count -- Taboos and mysticism / Section 3 Numbers in daily life: The African concept of time -- Numbers and money -- Those familiar weights and measures! -- Record-keeping: sticks and strings / Section 4 Mathematical recreations: Games to grow on -- The game played by kings and cowherds-and presidents, too -- Magic squares / Section 5 Pattern and shape: Geometric form in architecture -- Part I: geometric form and pattern in art -- Part II: geometric symmetries in African art / Section 6 Regional study: Southwest Nigeria: History of the Yoruba states and Benin -- Systems of numeration -- Significant numbers -- Time-reckoning -- Markets and currency / Section 7 Regional study: East Africa: History of East Africa -- Spoken and gesture counting -- Number superstitions -- East African time -- Wealth means cattle-and other livestock / Section 8 Past and future: Pure mathematics in Africa -- Update: twenty-five years later
Summary This fascinating study of mathematical thinking among sub-Saharan African peoples covers counting in words and in gestures; measuring time, distance, weight, and other quantities; manipulating money and keeping accounts; number systems; patterns in music, poetry, art, and architecture; and number magic and taboos. African games such as mankala and elaborate versions of tic-tac-toe show how complex this thinking can be. An invaluable resource for students, teachers, and others interested in African cultures and multiculturalism, this third edition is updated with an introduction covering t
Subject Ethnomathematics -- Africa, Sub-Saharan
Games -- Africa, Sub-Saharan
Ethnomathematics
Games
Sub-Saharan Africa
Form Electronic book
ISBN 9781613741153
1613741154