Pan-African Perspective

Self-Education Aids in Mathematics

Mathematics: A symbolic language used to represent, measure, and analyze quantity, duration, and space. It is a methodological tool that is critical to science and general civilization.

 
     
Examine Africa's role as the birthplace of humanity
  

 
Egyptian Numbers
Egyptian Numeral Definition
 
One
 
Ten
 
One Hundred
 
One Thousand
 
Ten Thousand
 
One Hundred Thousand

Links to interactive math sites

Mathematics has always been a critical component of African civilization. Without mathematics our people could not have built the marvelous structures that the world still gazes upon with amazement from the north of the continent to the south. Africans could not have parceled land for cultivation, conducted commerce, devised calendars, or developed astronomy. (Read about the Three Astronomer Priestesses of Egypt.)

Early mathematics can be divided into four parts: prehistoric, Egyptian, Babylonian (or Mesopotamian), and early Greek..(The Greek period 6, 5 4 BC) There was activity independent of this in others parts of the world, notably China, India, and the Americas. What is known about the mathematics of ancient Egypt is based primarily on the content of several papyri which date from the period 1800-1600 BC. The largest of these is (the Ahmes who copied it in 1650 BC, or Rhind who found it in 1858 ad,) Papyrus. It contains about 85 problems most of which were practical such as calculations of areas and volumes and distribution of wages among laborers.

Pan-African Perspective Math Quiz

This quiz provides test problems and scores. Follow the instruction below to start the quiz.

  • Select the level of difficulty for your quiz. (Easy, Moderate, Difficult)
  • Select the type of math problem you would like to test. (Add, Subtract, Multiply, Divide)
  • When the problem appears, enter the answer in the text box provided and then press the OK button.
  • You will get an immediate response. If the answer is correct, the system will tell you that you have answered correctly and provide your current test score. If your answer is incorrect, the system let you know that your have entered an incorrect amount and provide you with the correct answer.

You can check current score at anytime by pressing the Check Score button. To restart you testing and erase the current score, press Reset Score button.

Note: You must select a problem type (Add, Subtract, Multiply, Divide) after you enter each answer. You can also change the level of difficulty.



Easy Moderate Difficult

 

 

Mathematics Tutorials

This video set contains dozens of mathematical explanations with examples from basic addition and subtractions to trigonometric functions. This information can be used to supplement home schoolers as well as non-home schoolers. They can be of use`when used as part of a`comprehensive math development agenda.

Mathematics from the simplest forms to the most complex involves three things: an unknown, a given and a condition.

Example: 7 = a + 4

  Unknown The unknown is the thing that must be found or determined. We must find a solution for the unknown. In the example a is the unknown.
  Given (data)

In every problem something must be known. If there isn't any data then we would have nothing on which to base a solution. In the example there are two pieces of data:

  1. Each side of this equation is equal to 7.
  2. The unknown value plus 4 is equal to 7.
  Condition

The condition specifies how the unknown is linked to the data. It provides the relationship between them. For example, equality is the condition in the example.

The Panafrican Perspective math section is devided into five parts: Basic, Algebra, Geometry, Trigonometry and Calculus.

  BASICS The basics discusses arithmetic and other fundamental mathematical structures. This is a review designed to remind the reader of the fundamental laws and principles involved in mathematical thinking.
  Algebra Algebra is arithmetic using letters as variables. These variables contain the numerical unknown in the problem.
  Geometry

Geometry was derived from the activities of measurement, such as the amount of land allotted. It was pursued by early societies particularly Egypt due to the annual flooding of the Nile which required that land be reapportioned on an annual basis.

  Trigonometry Trigonometry is the study of triangles and angles and their relationship; the greatest example of practical use of such knowledge can be seen in the great Pyramids of Egypt.
  Calculus Calculus deals with changing quantities or variable values based on infinitesimals and limits. Differential calculating changes in a variable based on changes in a related variable relation between 2 variable is called a function one method is the use of graphs, their points and slopes Integral the sums of infinitesimals involving limits can be used to determine distance, area, volume and so forth by approximation. The general idea is to slice a figure into little pieces, which can be approximated, Slope analysis and sum finding are inverse, opposite processes, thus they can be used to supplement each other.

 

If you are a teacher, student, home schooling parent, or just need an easy and effective learning tool, you will find the site Quizlet (http://quizlet.com/) to be an invaluable tool. It covers everything from arithmetic, physics and French, to the GMAT, Accounting and Literature. You can also create your own quizzes and flashcards to fit any subject.

African Queen

Decade of the African Woman

Philip Emeagwali, one of the foremost scientific thinkers of our time. He has been called one of the Fathers of the Internet.

Listen to his presentation at the Prospering in the Digital Age Conference sponsored by Walker Automated Services.

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