Re: Non-Western Math

[Sankarshan Mukhopadhay <sankarshan randomink org>]

Gora Mohanty wrote:
> --- 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.

For better or for worse, Arithmetic manipulations in India (at least) 
mirror those of the English school. :)

> 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. 

If the digits are to be used in *representative forms* as opposed to 
*calculation forms* it might be a better idea to localise them. If I 
recally correctly, the localisation of *calculation forms* is still a 
thorny issue.

Cheers
SM