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Mathematics in African History and Cultures: An Annotated Bibliography
 More Detail 		Mathematics in African History and Cultures: An Annotated Bibliography By Ahmed Djebbar, Paulus Gerdes
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This volume constitutes an updated version of the bibliography published in 2004 by the African Mathematical Union.
The... More > African Studies Association attributed the original edition a ‘special mention’ in the 2006 Conover-Porter Award competition.
The book contains over 1600 bibliographic entries.
The appendices contain additional bibliographic information on (1) mathematicians of the Diaspora, (2) publications by Africans on the history of mathematics outside Africa, (3) time-reckoning and astronomy in African cultures, (4) string figures in Africa, (5) examples of books published by African mathematicians, (6) board games in Africa, (7) research inspired by geometric aspects of the ‘sona’ tradition. The book concludes with several indices (subject, country, region, author, ethnographic and linguistic, journal, mathematicians).
Professor Jan Persens of the University of the Western Cape (South Africa) and president of the African Mathematical Union (2000-2004) wrote the preface. (430 pp.) < Less
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Afrikaanse Zandtekeningen uit Angola: Levende Wiskunde
 More Detail 		Afrikaanse Zandtekeningen uit Angola: Levende Wiskunde By Paulus Gerdes
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Voor kinderen vanaf 8 jaar.
“Hoe tekenen we een antilope waar een wiskundig patroon in zit? Hoe vindt de ooievaar zijn weg... More > door het moeras en waar zit het ritme in de tekening van de leeuwin? Paulus Gerdes toont het ons. De Tsjokwe bevolking in Angola houdt ervan verhalen te vertellen en deze uit te tekenen met sporen in het zand.
In dit verrassend boekje worden kinderen en jongeren ingeleid in de rijke zandtekeningentraditie van de Tsjokwe.
Via verhalen komen zandtekeningen tot leven en worden kinderen gestimuleerd allerlei figuren te analyseren en na te tekenen waarbij ze een rijkdom aan meetkundige ervaringen opdoen. ...
Paulus Gerdes biedt deze zandtekeningen aan niet alleen als rijke schemata voor het verkennen van meetkundige inhouden maar koppelt er ook procedures aan vast voor een originele exploratie van de getallenwereld.”
Greet Van Keymeulen,
Arteveldehogeschool, Gent (72 blz.) < Less
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OTTHAVA: Fazer Cestos e Geometria na Cultura Makhuwa do Nordeste de Moçambique
 More Detail 		OTTHAVA: Fazer Cestos e Geometria na Cultura Makhuwa do Nordeste de... By Paulus Gerdes
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O livro debruçar-se-á sobre práticas na cultura makhuwa que evidenciam considerações geométricas, susceptíveis de uma... More > exploração matemática e educacional.
As práticas a serem apresentadas neste livro provêm da esfera cultural de ‘otthava’ – tecer, entretecer, entrecruzar, entrançar – ou seja, da cestaria e da esteiraria. Constituem temas de análise a fabricação de funis, de chapéus, de armadilhas de pesca, de recipientes, de peneiras, de chocalhos de dança, de carteiras, de tranças decoradas, de cestos, de nós e de esteiras circulares. Em cada capítulo sugerem-se algumas possibilidades de explorar e valorizar, cientifica e didacticamente, os conhecimentos geométricos inerentes às práticas culturais consideradas. Analisam-se simetrias, polígonos e poliedros, espirais, cilindros, hélices, padrões lineares e planares. (292 p.) < Less
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Drawings from Angola: Living Mathematics
 More Detail 		Drawings from Angola: Living Mathematics By Paulus Gerdes
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For children from age 8 to 14.
“Drawings from Angola” present an introduction to an African story telling tradition. The... More > tales are illustrated with marvelous drawings made in the sand.
The book conveys the stories of the stork and the leopard, the hunter and the dog, the rooster and the fox, and others. It explains how to execute the drawings. The reader is invited to draw tortoises, antelopes, lions, and other animals. The activities proposed throughout the book invite the reader to experiment and to explore the ‘rhythm’ and symmetry of the illustrations. Surprising results will be playfully obtained, such as in arithmetic, a way to calculate quickly the sum of a sequence of odd numbers. Children will live the beautiful mathematics of the Angolan sanddrawings.
Answers to the activities are provided.
The book can be used both in classrooms and at home. (72 pp.) < Less
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African Basketry: A Gallery of Twill-Plaited Designs and Patterns
 More Detail 		African Basketry: A Gallery of Twill-Plaited Designs and Patterns By Paulus Gerdes
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From the Preface:

“Over the years, Paulus Gerdes has established himself as the pre-eminent expert on patterns in African... More > weaving and basketry, and the broader implications of these patterns. …
This new book is a broad gallery of plaited African designs. These range over much of the continent while concentrating on those parts of Africa that are closest to his Mozambique center, including Kongo, Mbole and Mangbetu from Congo, Cokwe and Lunda from Angola, Digo from Kenya, Soga from Uganda, Zulu from South Africa, and Makhuwa in Mozambique itself, but including such distant peoples as Bamileke in Cameroon.

In Gerdes’ gallery we are shown the love of patterns and symmetries that are the result of centuries of exultant exploration.
Enjoy!”

Donald W. Crowe
Professor of Mathematics, Emeritus
University of Wisconsin (220 pp.) < Less
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African Doctorates in Mathematics. A Catalogue
 More Detail 		African Doctorates in Mathematics. A Catalogue By Paulus Gerdes
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This volume presents a catalogue of over 2000 doctoral theses by Africans in all fields of mathematics, including applied... More > mathematics, mathematics education and history of mathematics. The introduction contains information about distribution by country, institutions, period, and by gender, about mathematical density, and mobility of mathematicians. Several appendices are included (female doctorate holders, doctorates in mathematics education, doctorates awarded by African universities to non-Africans, doctoral theses by non-Africans about mathematics in Africa, activities of African mathematicians at the service of their communities). Paulus Gerdes compiled the information in his capacity of Chairman of the African Mathematical Union Commission for the History of Mathematics in Africa (AMUCHMA). The book contains a preface by Mohamed Hassan, President of the African Academy of Sciences (AAS) and Executive Director of the Academy of Sciences for the Developing World (TWAS). (383 pp.) < Less
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Tinlhèlò, Interweaving Art and Mathematics: Colourful Basket Trays from the south of Mozambique
 More Detail 		Tinlhèlò, Interweaving Art and Mathematics: Colourful Basket Trays... By Paulus Gerdes
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The books “TINHLÈLÒ, Interweaving Art and Mathematics: Colourful Basket Trays from the South of Mozambique” exhibits... More > and analyses coloured circular winnowing baskets collected by the author since the end of the 1970s (132 pp. colour). < Less
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Sipatsi: Basketry and Geometry in the Tonga Culture of Inhambane (Mozambique, Africa)
 More Detail 		Sipatsi: Basketry and Geometry in the Tonga Culture of Inhambane... By Paulus Gerdes
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Gitonga speaking basket weavers, mostly women, from Inhambane in the Southeast of Mozambique make colourful 'sipatsi'... More > purses, and handbags. They are very creative in inventing new decorative designs and patterns. This book, resulting from thirty years of enquiring, collecting and observing, is unique. It presents a series of 'snapshots', which collectively constitute a short film that records an unfolding exploration of personal and collective memory, of symmetry, of combinations of colour and pattern, and of variations of order and logic to create new designs. The book includes a catalogue of over 700 different decorative patterns.
In several chapters, activities and problems for exploration in mathematics (teacher) education have been presented, underscoring the scientific and educational wealth of the 'sipatsi' as a mathematical construct. (422 pp.) < Less
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Lunda Geometry: Mirror Curves, Designs, Knots, Polyominoes, Patterns, Symmetries
 More Detail 		Lunda Geometry: Mirror Curves, Designs, Knots, Polyominoes, Patterns,... By Paulus Gerdes
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The book “Lunda Geometry” explains how the mathematical concepts of mirror curves and Lunda-designs were discovered in... More > the context of the author’s research of ‘sona’, illustrations traditionally made in the sand by Cokwe storytellers from eastern Angola (a region called Lunda) and neighboring regions of Congo and Zambia. Examples of mirror curves from several cultures are presented. Lunda-designs are aesthetically attractive and display interesting symmetry properties. Examples of Lunda-patterns and Lunda-polyominoes are presented. Some generalizations of the concept of Lunda-design are discussed, like hexagonal Lunda-designs, Lunda-k-designs, Lunda-fractals, and circular Lunda-designs. Lunda-designs of Celtic knot designs are constructed.
Several chapters were published in journals like ‘Computers & Graphics’ (Oxford), ‘Visual Mathematics’ (Belgrade), and ‘Mathematics in School’ (UK). (198 pp.) < Less
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Sipatsi Images in Colour: A Supplement
 More Detail 		Sipatsi Images in Colour: A Supplement By Paulus Gerdes
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The supplement (56 pp.) of the book "Sipatsi: Basketry and Geometry in the Tonga Culture of Inhambane (Mozambique, Africa)"... More > (Lulu, 2009, 422 pp.) contains the original colour images of the black-and-white photographs photographs included in the aforementioned book. < Less
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About paulus gerdes

Paulus Gerdes
C. P. 915, Maputo, Mozambique
paulus.gerdes@gmail.com

Professor of Mathematics
Vice-President for Southern Africa, African Academy of Sciences
Chairman, African Mathematical Union Commission on the History of Mathematics in Africa
President, International Studygroup on Ethnomathematics
Fellow, International Academy for the History of Science
Former President (Rector), Universidade Pedagógica, Mozambique
Former President, International Association for Science and Cultural Diversity