ETHNOMATHEMATICS

Abstract — Before the coming of Western education/colonialists, Hausa people in northern Nigeria used mathematics in sorting, ordering, measuring, timing and weighing in their day to day activities. Featuring prominently in this culture are the traditional games/puzzles played by children or adults with the aim of deriving lessons, and for cognitive development. One of such games is wasakwakwalwa, a term derived from the Hausa word “wasa ” meaning shaping and “kwakwalwa meaning brain. Therefore, wasakwakwalwa (Hausa puzzles) is a brain shaping game. The main concern of this paper is on the aspect of wasakwakwalwa that involves calculations and to highlight therein the existence of algebra, set theory, trigonometric, coordinate geometry, arithmetic progression and geometry progression. The paper also shows how to translate verbal Hausa statement to mathematical expression and solve them. Furthermore the paper will correct the erroneous believe that there was no mathematics in Hausa land/northern Nigeria before the coming of the colonialists and address those who believe mathematics only starts and ends in the classroom, thereby divorcing the rich cultural elements from the use of mathematics. Index Term — Wasakwakwalwa, Hausa, northern Nigeria, I