Ethnomathematics Digital Library (EDL)

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Culture: Italian

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6 Records

Classical versus vector and Cartesian geometry in problem solving in Greece and in Italy
by Athanasios Gagatsis (2000)
[http://www.syllogismos.it/education/Vector.pdf]
This study explores the teaching of geometry in Greece and Italy, describing a high school experimental research. Strategies to solve geometry problems in Greek and Italian high schools were compared, following “low performances on vector methods that may be caused by either false preconceptions regarding the concept of vector or by the influence of classic geometry teaching.” Tables provide analysis of general and vector errors, as well as positive and negative commands for Euclidean and vector geometry. It is noted that in Italy, “many students solve geometry problems by Cartesian (or trigonometric) method, but this particularly happens when problems themselves are explicitally [sic] given in the Cartesian plane; on the contrary, when pupils want to prove a theorem, they often prefer [the] Euclidean method.” (Includes 15 references)
Subject: Cultural Context>Influence of Culture on Teaching Mathematics,
Geometry and Topology>Plane Geometry>Patterns>Geometric Patterns,
Mathematics History
Geographical area: Greece, Italy
Cultural group: Greek, Italian

I rapporti tra Pisa e Bejaia (Bujia) in eta medievale: un contributo essenziale alla construzione della 'Mediterraneita'
by Djamil Aissani (2002)
[http://www.ethnomath.org/resources/aissani2002d.pdf]
This article discusses specific ties between the cities of Pisa and Begaia during the Middle Ages and delineates their contributions to the development of knowledge and the construction of what would later become the Mediterranean civilization. In particular it remembers the importance of Begaia as a point of interface between Europe and Maghreb and as the culturally and commercially thriving center that attracted Leonardo Fibonacci, Raimondo Lullo and al-Qurashi. In Begaia, Fibonacci’s received the practical experience and schooling which inspired his Liber abaci. This text not only helped diffuse Arabic numerals and fractional system throughout Europe, but also serves as testament to the mathematical sophistication required of merchants at that time. Other terms: Gehimab, Ibn’Arabi, Ibn Rushd (Averroe), Ibn Khaldun, Ibn al-Banna, Madinat al-‘ilm, Beit al-Hikma (house of wisdom), textiles, wool, leather, Bugia, budge, bougie, budye, bogget, bugeye, bogett. (Includes 20 references)
Subject: Cultural Context>Cultural Diversity,
Cultural Context>Cultural Perspectives on Mathematics,
Mathematics History>General Mathematics History,
Numbers and Computation>Patterns and Sequences>Fibonacci Sequence
Geographical area: Africa, Italy
Cultural group: African, Italian

Les mathematiques a Bougie medieval et Fibonacci
by Djamil Aissani (2002)
[http://www.ethnomath.org/resources/aissani2002e.pdf]
This report is about the history of mathematics in Bejaia (or Bougie), a city in northeastern Algeria which was one of the region’s important centers of culture and science during the Medieval era. The famous 13th century Italian mathematician Leonardo Fibonacci is known to have studied there. His works are recognized as having introduced the decimal system and Arabic numerals to Europe. Fibonacci, who traveled extensively, is described to have had numerous contacts with scientists throughout the Mediterranean world. Other mathematicians who worked in Bejaia at the time are covered in the study, as well as the geopolitical factors that helped make the city a center for the study of mathematics and the exchange of knowledge between Moslem and Christian worlds. (Includes 16 references)
Subject: Mathematics History
Geographical area: Africa, Italy
Cultural group: African, Italian

Melting pot math: multicultural problems for the 21st century
by Gwenn Holtz (2002)
[http://www.fi.edu/school/math3/index.html]
This page gives access to many different problem sets that are set in different countries and cultures across the world. Each set of problems comes with all of the necessary information to solve the questions. The problems focus on arithmetic, and many of them are story problems that provide information about the culture from which they are drawn.
Subject: Numbers and Computation>Arithmetic
Geographical area: Caribbean, China, England, Germany, India, Ireland, Italy, Ivory Coast, Kenya, Mexico, Russia
Cultural group: Chinese, English (Great Britain), German, Indian (India), Irish, Italian, Kenyan, Mexican, Russian

The role of the history of mathematics in mathematics education: reflections and examples
by Giorgio Bagni (2000)
[http://www.syllogismos.it/giorgiobagni/..%5Chistory%5CCerme-1.pdf]
This paper reports the results of a study that introduced students aged 16-18 in the Liceo Scientifico in Treviso, Italy, to the concepts of group algebra through historical examples: Bombelli's 'basic rules' and the Cayley table from his Algebra (published in 1572 and 1579). Two sets of students examined one or the other of these historical texts introducing the basic concepts of a group, and they were asked several true/false questions about the concepts afterwards. Student comprehension of basic principles of groups was good and was slightly higher for those studying the Cayley table. (Includes 20 references)
Subject: Instructional Issues>Educational Research,
Mathematics History
Geographical area: Italy
Cultural group: Italian

Un'antica biblioteca berbera scoperta in Algeria
by Djamil Aissani (2002)
[http://www.ethnomath.org/resources/aissani2002h.pdf]
This article reports the discovery of one of North Africa’s richest private libraries, which for safekeeping was hidden in the Kabylia region of Algeria during the French occupation. Strangely, a complete and methodical inventory of the bibliographic treasures of Maghreb, compiled by orientalists in the 19th century, fails to mention these Kabylian manuscripts. In 1994 the Gehimab association of Begaia (hub of mathematical studies in medieval times and where Fibonacci lived and studied) retrieved the 570 manuscripts from a mountain cabin and created the Ulahbib collection. Its holdings include: notary acts, registers, histories, travelogues, religious, medical and literary texts and epistolaries. The rarer medieval codices are written in Beber and deal with algebra, geometry, astronomy, astrology, law, lithography and printing.
Subject: Cultural Context>Cultural Perspectives on Mathematics,
Mathematics History>General Mathematics History,
Numbers and Computation>Patterns and Sequences>Fibonacci Sequence
Geographical area: Africa, Italy
Cultural group: African, Italian

The Ethnomathematics Digital Library is a component of the National Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics Education Digital Library (NSDL), funded by the National Science Foundation.