Ethnomathematics

Shapes Out Of Shapes

Shapes out of shapes: tomato duck

What do you see? People see shapes everywhere. Our minds deal with any visual experience by forming meaningful patterns, using a system called object recognition. Most of the time, we are not aware of this process. But you can make a game out of recognizing and making shapes and patterns. From Barnorama.com Take this squash, […]

Posted in Make

Ethnobraiding with Bread

Ehtnobraiding with Bread

Braiding is one of the simplest forms of mathematical art. While it is a subject that can become complex, the basics are easy to learn. Braiding can be seen around the world in different cultures, and learning from these cultures can turn braiding into an ethnomathematic adventure. When you add bread into the equation, the […]

Posted in Make

Math goggles: tasty sphere packing around the world

Sphere Packing

Math goggles help you notice math everywhere. Maria João Lagarto has great math goggles when she makes adventurous Pinterest collections. For this post, I selected examples of round fruits, confections, and other morsels packed into triangles, pyramids, or cones. Even the Wikipedia article on sphere packing uses a pyramid of oranges! I used to play with a […]

Posted in Grow