Customer Reviews

Mathematics Elsewhere: An Exploration of Ideas Across Cultures

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This is an excellent book. It sounds like an odd premise for a book - look at ideas in 'other' cultures and see how these are in essence mathematical ideas (in the western sense). However, what the author has done has turn what could be 'worthy but dull' material into a fascinating read. If you teach math (school, college or university) you will find lots of great topics to illustrate your lectures. If you just like math then this is a good read. The author has a nice style too - very easy to read. I loved this book. If you have any interest in math ideas then you will too.

there are very few books on ethnomathematics
out there (another good one is Mathematics
Across Cultures, Selin (ed.))

This book has the plus of smooth and enjoyable
reading, WITHOUT wattering down in content

Advisable for teachers, historians, and, in
addition, persons interested in the epistemological
problems in science.

Plese keep on writing, Marcia!

Mathematics is found in many places and in many forms, you only have to look for it in the right way. Ascher does that in this book. In chapter 1, "The Logic of Divination" randomization processes used in Madagascar, the Caroline Islands of the Pacific and the west coast of Africa are described. The processes are described using Boolean algebra and modular arithmetic.
Accurate calendars are an important component of most cultures and the computations used to maintain calendars in many cultures are described in chapters 2 and 3. The cyclic nature of the passage of the days is described using modular arithmetic. Some of the cultures whose calendars are explained are the Jewish; a tribe living on the island of Sumba in Indonesia called the Kodi, the Mayans of Central America and the Trobriand Islanders of the coast of New Guinea.
Chapter four deals with the tactics used by the Polynesian people as they navigated thousands of miles across the sea from one Pacific island to another. Their use of stick charts describing the paths based on wave patterns is an interesting form of graph. Relationships are the topic of chapter five, in particular the cyclic, sequential and circular structure used by the Basque people. Each person has a nearest neighbor on the "left" and on the "right" and they interact most strongly with those people when it comes to giving and receiving aid during critical times such as the harvest. Other relationship structures covered are the complex relationships in the Tonga island chain and among the Borana people of Ethiopia.
The sixth and final chapter describes figures that Tamil people in India draw on their doorsteps using white powders. The designs are so complex that they are fractal in nature and computer scientists have used them as models to develop descriptive picture languages.
Ascher describes many uses of mathematics, from the Pacific Islands of Polynesia to the tribal cultures of Africa and many places in between. This is a fascinating book and one that teachers of comparative cultures should examine. The mathematics is not difficult; it is well within the level of understanding of anyone with knowledge of basic algebra. I found it so interesting that I am now considering talking to the sociology department about the possibility of team teaching an honors level course on the use of mathematics in so-called "primitive" cultures.

This book didn't contain the information on Native American Mathematics that I was looking for, but I thought I could use it anyway. The index is very limited. The book is dry and uninteresting. Try her other book, Ethnomathematics, instead. It is much better.