Africa Counts: Number And Pattern In African Culture; Author: Zaslavsky, Claudia; Paperback

Author: Zaslavsky, Claudia
3rd ed; Paperback
352 pages
Published: July 1999
A Cappella Publishing
ISBN: 1556523505

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; number systems; patterns in music, poetry, art, and architecture; number magic and taboos, and much more. African games such as mankala and elaborate versions of tic-tac-toe show how complex this thinking can be. An invaluable resource for those interested in African cultures and multiculturalism, this third edition includes an introduction covering two decades of new research in the ethnomathematics of Africa.Explores the history and practice of mathematics throughout sub-Saharan Africa, demonstrating that math was prominent in African life. Zaslavsky, who has written previously about math games from other cultures, shows how numbers and counting are important in tribal tradition, spiritual beliefs, trad