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Presenting mathematical ideas of peoples from a variety of small-scale and traditional cultures, this book humanizes our view of mathematics and expands our conception of what is mathematical. Through engaging examples of how particular societies structure time, reach decisions about the future, make models and maps, systematize relationships, and create intriguing figures, Marcia Ascher demonstrates that traditional cultures have mathematical ideas that are far more substantial and sophisticated than is generally acknowledged. Malagasy divination rituals, for example, rely on complex algebraic algorithms. And some cultures use calendars far more abstract and elegant than our own. Ascher also shows that certain concepts assumed to be universal--that time is a single progression, for instance, or that equality is a static relationship--are not. The Basque notion of equivalence, for example, is a dynamic and temporal one not adequately captured by the familiar equal sign. Other ideas taken to be the exclusive province of professionally trained Western mathematicians are, in fact, shared by people in many societies. The ideas discussed come from geographically varied cultures, including the Borana and Malagasy of Africa, the Tongans and Marshall Islanders of Oceania, the Tamil of South India, the Basques of Western Europe, and the Balinese and Kodi of Indonesia.
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Previews available in: English
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1
Mathematics Elsewhere: An Exploration of Ideas Across Cultures
2018, Princeton University Press
in English
0691187649 9780691187648
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2
Mathematics Elsewhere: An Exploration of Ideas Across Cultures
October 18, 2004, Princeton University Press
Paperback
in English
- New Ed edition
0691120226 9780691120225
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3
Mathematics elsewhere: an exploration of ideas across cultures
2002, Princeton University Press
in English
0691070202 9780691070209
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Mathematics Elsewhere: An Exploration of Ideas Across Cultures
2002, Princeton University Press
in English
0691070202 9780691070209
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Includes bibliographical references and index.
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