Ethiopia - Mathematics and the Liberal Arts

Ethiopia - Mathematics and the Liberal Arts

To expand search, see Sub-Saharan Africa. Laterally related topics: The Bushoong, TheTshokwe, The Mursi of Ethiopia, The Bambara of Sudan, South Africa, The Bushmen (southern Africa), Ghana, The Bakuba of Zaire, BeninCity, Nigeria, Cameroon, Mali, Mozambique, and The Kpelle of Guinea.

The Mathematics and the Liberal Arts pages are intended to be a resource for student research projects and for teachers interested in using the history of mathematics in their courses. Many pages focus on ethnomathematics and in the connections between mathematics and other disciplines. The notes in these pages are intended as much to evoke ideas as to indicate what the books and articles are about. They are not intended as reviews. However, some items have been reviewed in Mathematical Reviews, published by The American Mathematical Society. When the mathematical review (MR) number and reviewer are known to the author of these pages, they are given as part of the bibliographic citation. Subscribing institutions can access the more recent MR reviews online through MathSciNet.


Eglash, Ron. Fractal geometry in African material culture. Symmetry: natural and artificial, 1 (Washington, DC, 1995). Symmetry Cult. Sci. 6 (1995), no. 1, 174--177. SC: 01A13 (01A07), MR: 1 371 629.

This article is very brief, but mentions several tantalizing examples of fractals and recursive similarity in Africa. He gives an example of fractals in the layout of the settlement of Mokoulek in Cameroon. There are apparently also hints of fractal architecture in ancient Egypt. The author tells us that recursive scaling (infinite self-similar structures) is also seen in Ethiopian crosses, Egyptian cosmological icons, and Cameroon bronzeware. The author also tells us that "specific scaling techniques are particularly evident in Ghana, where the use of log spirals to represent self-organizing systems (biological morphogenesis and fluid turbulence is common", and that "binary recursion is used in Bambara sand divination" [in Mali]. Closely related topics: Fractals, Cameroon, Ghana, Mali, Ancient Egypt, and Biology.

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