[Coral-List] Coral reefs and etnomathematics

[Vassil Zlatarski]

Thank you, David, naturally we should  treasure and use the existing
knowledge and be aware of its implication/application.

Hope of interest:  https://equitablemath.org/

Cheers,

Vassil

On Sun, Feb 28, 2021 at 2:38 AM David Blakeway <
fathom5marineresearch at gmail.com> wrote:

> Hi Vassil,
> I didn't know what ethnomathematics was so looked it up. A concise
> definition is "the study and presentation of mathematical ideas of
> traditional peoples" (Ascher 1991. Ethnomathematics: A Multicultural View
> of Mathematical Ideas).
> So that could get interesting with respect to reefs. Polynesian stick
> charts for navigating between atolls seem quite mathematical, like a
> Cartesian graph. And the layout of building foundations indicates an
> understanding of rules for squaring things up, probably 'equal diagonals'.
> All reef cultures would have a good understanding of cyclical time and
> temporal patterns in reef biota. But I don't know of reef-specific
> mathematical concepts. People must have wondered about the rules underlying
> geometric patterns in corals and reefs... why are you asking, did you come
> across something?
> One sure thing is that most of this precious knowledge is gone. As one of
> the early 19th century naturalists put it: "*...sunk in the sea of
> oblivion just at the moment when they were placed into our hands*."
>