Re: Non-Western Math

[Gora Mohanty <gora_mohanty yahoo co in>]

--- Michael Terry <mike mterry name> wrote: 
[...]
> I maintain a simple math puzzle game (Multiplication
> Puzzle - http://mterry.name/gmult/ - you can see all
> that you need from this screenshot:
> http://mterry.name/gmult/gmult-big.png) from which I
> am trying to iron out any i18n issues.

> I'm curious about how non-Western peoples are taught
> math. Specifically, are they taught long
> multiplication in a similar manner to the West?

It is taught the same way in India, and the puzzle
looks it should be comprehensible to a user here.

> What would need to change if not?  Should I allow
the
> characters and digits used to be translated as well?

Allowing localization of digits would be useful, but
as someone else pointed out, it might make more sense
to use shapes rather than English characters for
unknowns. At a pinch, English characters should be
fine, as at least in India, algebraic expressions
typically use these.

Regards,
Gora

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