Canoe travel in the Truk area: Technology and its psychological correlates
by Thomas Gladwin (1958)
[http://www.ethnomath.org/resources/gladwin1958.pdf]
This report covers the geometric nature and design of canoes, in the context of describing the interrelated nature of the Chuukese personality, social organization, and navigational (particularly sidereal) skills. One section focuses on the attributes of the V-shaped hull and variations in curvatures.
Subject: Applied Mathematics>Engineering Mathematics>Design and Construction of Canoes and Sailing Vessels,
Applied Mathematics>Mathematical Physics>Navigation
Geographical area: Chuuk (Micronesia)
Cultural group: Chuukese
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Mathematics and culture: Chuukese use multiple counting systems
by Peter James (2002)
[http://www.prel.org/products/paced/aug02/ms_counting.htm]
This article examines the counting systems used by the people of Chuuk, part of the Federated States of Micronesia (FSM). The Chuukese number system uses different word endings for counting different types of objects. For example, flat objects such as paper, leaves, and tin roofs are counted with words different from the words used for long objects such as canoes, fingers, or pencils. In Chuukese, exact weights and volumes are difficult to express because of their lack of words equivalent to English weights and measures. These ways are not being taught to the younger generation and it is possible that this information will be lost before it is recorded. Other terms: Mortlocks Region, Chuukese craftsmen.
Subject: Cultural Context,
Numbers and Computation>Number Concepts>Natural Numbers>Counting
Geographical area: Chuuk (Micronesia)
Cultural group: Chuukese
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Mathematics and culture: Chuukese use multiple counting systems (PDF)
by Peter James (2002)
[http://www.ethnomath.org/resources/peter.pdf]
This article examines the counting systems used by the people of Chuuk, part of the Federated States of Micronesia (FSM). The Chuukese number system uses different word endings for counting different types of objects. For example, flat objects such as paper, leaves, and tin roofs are counted with words different from the words used for long objects such as canoes, fingers, or pencils. In Chuukese, exact weights and volumes are difficult to express because of their lack of words equivalent to English weights and measures. These ways are not being taught to the younger generation and it is possible that this information will be lost before it is recorded. Other terms: Mortlocks Region, Chuukese craftsmen.
Subject: Cultural Context
Geographical area: Chuuk (Micronesia)
Cultural group: Chuukese
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Schiefahrt auf den Karonlinen-und Marshallinseln
by Paul Hambruch (1912)
[http://www.ethnomath.org/resources/hambruch1912.pdf]
This report discusses the Chuukese cosmology and conceptualization of the sky as a roof extending to the outer world, but still enabling outside voyagers to slip into the Chuuk island group (Federated States of Micronesia) primarily from the west. The study also discusses visualized star lines between the rising and setting points, with many stars forming a vertical position against the horizon and making up part of the Chuukese compass rose. The report provides illustrations, diagrams, and photos.
Subject: Applied Mathematics>Mathematical Physics>Astronomy,
Applied Mathematics>Mathematical Physics>Navigation
Geographical area: Chuuk (Micronesia)
Cultural group: Chuukese, Micronesian
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Some aspects of canoe and house construction on Truk
by Frank LeBar
[http://www.ethnomath.org/resources/lebar1963.pdf]
Includes several drawings and associated explanations of indigenous measurement standards for outrigger booms and men’s houses.
Subject: Applied Mathematics>Engineering Mathematics>Architecture and Building,
Applied Mathematics>Engineering Mathematics>Design and Construction of Canoes and Sailing Vessels,
Numbers and Computation>Measurement (Arithmetic)
Geographical area: Chuuk (Micronesia)
Cultural group: Chuukese
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Some aspects of canoe and house construction on Truk
by Frank LeBar (1963)
[http://www.ethnomath.org/resources/lebar1963.pdf]
This report focuses on “the two most complicated products of Trukese technology”: canoes and houses. There are few remaining master builders alive on Truk (Chuuk), which is part of the Federated States of Micronesia. Included are drawings, diagrams, and associated explanations of indigenous measurement standards for a fishing canoe hull and outrigger, as well as men’s houses. (Includes 6 references)
Subject: Applied Mathematics>Engineering Mathematics>Architecture and Building,
Applied Mathematics>Engineering Mathematics>Design and Construction of Canoes and Sailing Vessels
Geographical area: Chuuk (Micronesia)
Cultural group: Chuukese
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Trukese-English dictionary (pwpwuken tettenin fóós: Chuuk-Ingenes). Supplementary volume: English-Trukese and index of Trukese word roots
by Ward Goodenough (1990)
[http://www.ethnomath.org/resources/goodenough1990.pdf]
This dictionary includes numerous indigenous terms for phrases involving numbers, particularly for seven and nine (e.g., ttiweféw – “nine lumps or globular shaped objects”; ttiwesángá – “nine basketfuls of fish”; ttiwemmék – “nine fragments”; fuuwut – “seven chunks of cooked breadfruit”; fúúfóch – “seven cylindrical, sticklike, or long rounded objects (e.g., cigarettes, sticks, trees, vehicles, canoes, teeth, arms, legs)”; and so on. Also included are phrases related to numbers themselves such as iteyita – “total count, total number, all, each and every one”; éwérúúw – “the combined number one-two in serial counting by twos (formed from elements from both one and two)”.
Subject: Numbers and Computation>Number Concepts>Natural Numbers>Counting
Geographical area: Chuuk (Micronesia)
Cultural group: Chuukese
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Under Heaven's Brow: Pre-Christian Religious Tradition in Chuuk
by Ward Goodenough (2002)
[http://www.ethnomath.org/resources/goodenough2002.pdf]
Goodenough explains the fundamentals of the system of number divination (pwee) in Chuuk used for several purposes including predicting the weather, the outcome of a battle, the identity of a thief, the probability of a good fishing day and many other issues and events. Fundamental to this system of divination with knots tied to coconut leaves was the counting of knots by fours using four coconut leaflets which provided 256 possible number combinations. Goodenough also discusses variations on this approach and permutations used in practice. He includes a table of indigenous names for combinations of numbers in a divination routine using snail shells arranged in 17 positions in accordance with a celestial derived canoe. He also provides a diagram of these positions, discussed cultural protocols in transactions with knot diviners and discusses a legend related to pwee divination.
Subject: Applied Mathematics>Mathematics for Humanities>Music>Chants and Chanting,
Cultural Context>Cultural Perspectives on Mathematics,
Numbers and Computation>Number Concepts>Natural Numbers>Counting,
Numbers and Computation>Patterns and Sequences>Number Patterns
Geographical area: Chuuk (Micronesia)
Cultural group: Chuukese
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