Books

Successful children's book now available in English: Drawings from Angola: Living Mathematics.

Translated from Portuguese to English by Dr. Arthur B. Powell, Professor of Mathematics Education, Rutgers University, Newark, NJ, USA
For children from age 8 to 14.

"Drawings from Angola" present an introduction to an African story telling tradition. The tales are illustrated with marvelous drawings made in the sand.

The book conveys the stories of the stork and the leopard, the hunter and the dog, the rooster and the fox, and others. It explains how to execute the drawings. The reader is invited to draw tortoises, antelopes, lions, and other animals. The activities proposed throughout the book invite the reader to experiment and to explore the 'rhythm' and symmetry of the illustrations. Surprising results will be playfully obtained such as in arithmetic, a way to calculate quickly the sum of a sequence of odd numbers. Children will live the beautiful mathematics of the Angolan sand drawings. Answers to the activities are provided.

The book can be used both in classrooms and at home.

For youngsters from 15 years onwards, Paulus Gerdes wrote the book "Lusona: Geometrical Recreations of Africa" (L'Harmattan, Paris, 1997). Parents and teachers who like to know more about the Cokwe story telling and drawing tradition, may consult his book "Sona Geometry from Angola: Mathematics of an African Tradition" (Polimetrica, Monza, 2007).
The new book "Drawings from Angola" is now available (both in print and as download) http://stores.lulu.com/pgerdes 

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