Found in Sub-Sahara Africa? Older than the ancient Egyptians? “Today, however, the more than 20,000 years old Ishango bone is considered to be the first evidence of a calculator in the world, although in the Lebombo mountains of Zwaziland a similar find has been dated to 35,000 years ago. Named after the place where it was […]
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Tag: Math
Ancient African Mathematics from Ethiopia
Ethiopia’s ancient and advanced system of mathematics is the same sophisticated system that modern computers use today. The strange and ancient method of multiplication that Ethiopian merchants used for thousands of years is explained. Using an example of multiplying 11 by 15 and using coffee beans as counters, the method of halving the 11 and […]
Hidden Figures: The African American Women Mathematicians Who Helped NASA
Black or white, East or West, single or married, mothers or childless, women were now a fundamental part of the aeronautical-research process. –Courtesy of William Morrow Working as a research mathematician at Langley was a very, very good black job — and it was also a very, very good female job. They had learned the […]
Albert Einstein Teaching Physics
The Nobel prize winning scientist Albert Einstein teaching a physics class at Lincoln University (HBCU in Pennsylvania) in 1946. “The first institution found anywhere in the world to provide a higher education in the arts and sciences for male youth of African descent.” In 1946, When Dr. Bond invited Einstein to Lincoln, the student body consisted […]
India’s Human Computer Shakuntala Devi
American education
Americans have grown accustomed to bad news about student performance in math and science. On a 2009 study administered by the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development, 15-year-olds in the U.S. placed 23rd in science and 31st in math out of 65 countries. On last year’s Nation’s Report Card assessments, only one third of eighth […]