Multicultural Mathematics Lessons

Created as part of a sabbatical project in Spring 1998 by Patricia Donovan of San Joaquin Delta College, Stockton, California, USA. For copies of the Word documents with intended formatting (sent as e-mail attachments) send request to Patricia Donovan .

• African Mende Addition

This lesson describes a method of addition used by the Mende people of West Africa. The method uses counting and expansion to build toward the idea of addition.

• Egyptian Multiplication

This lesson describes a method of multiplication used by the ancient Egyptians. The method of multiplication is such that it is only necessary to add and to multiply by twos - memorization of multiplication tables is unnecessary.

• Babylonian Square Roots

This lesson describes a method for finding square roots used by the Babylonian people of Mesopotamia. The method involves dividing and averaging, over and over, to find a more accurate solution with each repeat of the process.

• Islamic Inheritance Mathematics

This lesson describes how a woman'e estate is divided among her beneficiaries according to Islamic inheritance law. The method involves adding and subtracting fractions which represent the parts of the woman's estate, keeping in mind that sons receive twice as much as daughters, and a stranger's share must be paid first.

• Chinese Fraction Reducing

This lesson describes a method for reducing fractions used by the Chinese people as early as the first century AD. The method involves finding a common divisor, then reducing the fraction by that divisor.

San Joaquin Delta College