# Ethnomathematics of String Figure-Making Practices

Eric Vandendriessche

► To cite this version:

Eric Vandendriessche. Ethnomathematics of String Figure-Making Practices. Mario Schulze; Sarine Waltenspül. String Figures – A Cultural Practice between Art, Anthropology, and Theory, String Figures, DIAPHANES, pp.137-150, 2025, 978-3-0358-0750-9. hal-05233116

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<figure><img src="image_1.png" /></figure>
# Ethnomathematics of String Figure-Making Practices

Eric Vandendriessche (Aix-Marseille Université, CNRS, CREDO, Marseille, France)

String figure-making has been a longstanding practice in numerous societies, especially in those where oral tradition prevails<fnref n="1" />. It consists in applying a succession of operations to a string (knotted into a loop), mostly using the fingers and sometimes the feet, the wrists or the mouth. This succession of operations, generally performed by an individual (sometimes by two individuals working together), is intended to generate a final figure<fnref n="2" /> as shown in Fig. 1. Since the late 19th century, string figure-making practices have interested anthropologists and a number of mathematicians. Anthropologists initially viewed the study of string figures corpora as a method of collecting clues about cultural diffusion, migratory routes or intergroup contacts in ancient times<fnref n="3" />.

<footnote n="1">¹ Jenness, Diamond, “Papuan Cat’s Cradles,” *Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute* 50 (1920), pp. 299–326; Hornell, James, *String figures from Fiji and Western Polynesia* (Reprint edition, Germantown, New York: Periodicals Service Co ed., 39, Bishop Museum, 1971); Mary-Rousselière, Guy, *Les Jeux de Ficelle des Arviligjuarmiut*. Bulletin 233 (Ottawa: Musées Nationaux du Canada, 1969); Evans-Prichard, Edward E, “Zande String figures,” *Folklore* 83 (1972), pp. 225–239; Maude, Honor, *Solomon Island String Figures* (Canberra: Homa Press, 1978); Braunstein, José, “Figuras juegos de hilo de los Indios Maka,” *Hacia una Nueva Carta Etnica del Gran Chaco* III (1992), pp. 24-81.</footnote>

<footnote n="2">² See the webdocumentary *Savoir(s) sur le bout des doigts*, URL: https://jeuxdeficelle.huma-num.fr/. See also the scientific documentary *Kaninikula, Mathematics in the Trobriand Island*, URL: https://images.cnrs.fr/en/video/4149</footnote>

<footnote n="3">³ Davidson, Daniel S., “Aboriginal Australian string figures,” *Proceedings of the American Philosophical Society* 84 (1941), pp. 763–901; Paterson, Thomas T., *Eskimo String Figures and their Origin*. Fasc. III (Köbenhavn: Acta Arctica, 1949).</footnote>
1.1

<figure><img src="image_2.png" /></figure>

1.2

<figure><img src="image_3.png" /></figure>

1.3

<figure><img src="image_4.png" /></figure>

Fig. 1. String figures making all over the world: (1.1) Mata Koran displaying the string figure *mel* (bred fruit, *dracontomelon vitiense*), village of Fona, North Ambrym, Vanuatu. © Eric Vandendriessche
(1.2) Jaikopi Atami displaying the string figure *kiligvagjuk* (mammoth), Iqaluit, Nunavut. © Céline Petit 2018
(1.3) Paulina Pérez displaying the string figure that represents the head of the cervid *tashinsha* (mazama americana), Nivacle group, village of Samaria, Chaco, Paraguay. © David Jabin 2020

The first significant study on string figure making was carried out by Cambridge anthropologists Alfred Haddon and William Rivers in Melanesia, in 1898. They collected the methods of construction of some string figures of the Torres Strait Islanders, which led them to elaborate a specific nomenclature<fnref n="4" />. Their goal was to induce other anthropologists to collect string figures in different societies. The various collections of string figures published over the twentieth century, using Haddon and Rivers’ nomenclature or other similar ones, show that this actually happened<fnref n="5" />.

Since the early 20th century, a few mathematicians have also regarded string figure-making as a worthy topic within their discipline. In particular, Cambridge mathematician Walter William Rouse Ball (1850–1925), a practitioner well acquainted with string figures, perceived the mathematical aspects of this activity and attempted to demonstrate it in a chapter of his book *Mathematical Recreations and Essays* (1911). This may be the first ever attempt by a mathematician to demonstrate the connection between mathematics and procedural activities

<footnote n="4">⁴ Rivers, William H. and Haddon, Alfred C., “A Method of Recording String Figures and Tricks,” *Man* 2 (1902), pp.146-153.</footnote>

<footnote n="5">⁵ Jayne, Caroline F., *String Figures and How to Make Them : a Study of Cat's Cradle in Many Lands* (New York: Dover Edition, 1962 [1906]); Cunningham, W. A., “String Figures and Tricks from Central Africa,” *Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute of Great Britain and Ireland* 36 (1906), pp. 121–131; Landtman, Gunnar, “Cat's Cradles of the Kiwai Papuans, British New-Guinea,” *Anthropos* 9 (1914), pp. 221–232; Jenness, Diamond, *Eskimo String Figures*. Report of the Canadian Arctic Expedition 1913-1918 (F.A. Acland, Vol. XIII, Part B, 1924).</footnote>
such as string figure-making, even though the epistemological stake of such a connection is
not explicitly addressed by Ball<fnref n="6" />.

Indeed Ball’s approach to string figures foreshadows the development of the fledgling
Ethnomathematics research field that aims to study the cultural variations in the uses of
mathematical ideas and knowledge, beyond the field of scholarly and institutional activity, in
oral tradition societies in particular<fnref n="7" />.

For about a decade, I have coordinated collaborative interdisciplinary projects<fnref n="8" />—through a
dual ethnomathematical and anthropological approach—aiming to understand further the
mathematical dimension of string figure-making in its relationships with culturally specific
practices and logics, and in its links with other particular expressions of symbolic and
religious systems.

The *Encoding and Transmitting Knowledge with a String: a comparative study of the cultural uses of mathematical practices in string figure-making (Oceania, North & South America)* (ETKnoS) Project (2016-2021) aimed more particularly to investigate the relationships between the sequences of operations and the oral texts associated with their implementation.

The objective was to reach a better understanding of the extent to which, in these societies, the practice of string figure-making constituted/-tes a method for the organization and the transmission of knowledge (mythological, cosmological, sociological, geographical, etc.), involving the use of mathematical concepts<fnref n="9" />.

<footnote n="6">⁶ See Vandendriessche, Eric, “W. W. Rouse Ball and the Mathematics of String Figures,” *Historia Mathematica* 41 (2014), pp. 438–462.</footnote>

<footnote n="7">⁷ See Vandendriessche, Eric and Petit, Céline, “Des prémices d’une anthropologie des pratiques mathématiques à la constitution d’un nouveau champ disciplinaire : l’ethnomathématique,” *Revue d’histoire des sciences humaines* 31 (2017), pp. 189-219.</footnote>

<footnote n="8">⁸ Le jeux de ficelle : Aspects culturels et cognitifs d'une pratique à caractère mathématique Project (2011-2015)
http://www.sphere.univ-paris-diderot.fr/spip.php?rubrique84 ; Encoding and Transmitting Knowledge with a
String: a comparative study of the cultural uses of mathematical practices in string figure-making (Oceania,
North & South America) (ETKnoS) Project (2016-2021) http://www.sphere.univ-paris-
diderot.fr/spip.php?rubrique153&lang=en</footnote>

<footnote n="9">⁹ Hoenigman, Darja, “Talking about strings. The language of string figure-making in a Sepik society in Papua</footnote>
In the following, we will concentrate on this project’s outcomes regarding the mathematical dimension of string figure-making practices. Then, we will turn on methodological issues, while presenting some of the modelling tools that have been developed for investigating string figure procedures.

## String figure-making practices as a mathematical activity

The ethnomathematical analysis of string figure-making processes collected during fieldwork in Melanesia (Papua New Guinea and Vanuatu), and in the Americas (Paraguayan Chaco and Nunavut), shows that such practices imply a mathematical rationality<fnref n="10" />. A string figure-making process can be analyzed as a series of “simple movements” or “elementary operations” in the sense that the making of any string figure of a given corpus can be described by referring to a certain number of these operations. A String figure can thus be seen as the result of a procedure consisting of a succession of elementary operations as shown in Fig. 2.

New Guinea,” *Language Documentation & Conversation* 14 (2020), pp. 598–641; Henri, Agnès and Eric Vandendriessche, “Les jeux de ficelle en Nouvelle-Calédonie : une recherche de terrain inédite de Françoise Ozanne-Rivierre (1941-2007),” *Journal de la Société des Océanistes* 151 (2020), pp. 177-196; Vandendriessche, Eric, “Sand Drawing versus String Figure Making: Geometric and Algorithmic Practices in Northern Ambrym, Vanuatu,” in Eric Vandendriessche and Rik Pinxten, eds, *Indigenous Knowledge and Ethnomathematics* (Cham: Springer, 2022), pp. 85–118; Petit, Céline, “« Au-delà d’un simple divertissement » : principes d’action et effets symboliques de la pratique des jeux de ficelle (*ayaqhaaq, ajaraaq*) chez les Inuit,” *Journal de la société de Américanistes* 109-2 (2023), pp. 81-142; Jabin, David, “D’infimes différences. Pratique et circulation des jeux de ficelle chez les femmes du Chaco paraguayen,” *Journal de la société de Américanistes* 109-2 (2023), pp. 143-190.

<footnote n="10">¹⁰ Vandendriessche, Eric, *String figures as mathematics? An Anthropological Approach to String Figure-making in Oral Tradition Societies* (Studies in History and Philosophy of Science, Cham: Springer, 2015); Vandendriessche, Eric, “Ethnomathématique des jeux de ficelle trobriandais,” *ethnographiques.org* 29 (2015), URL: https://www.ethnographiques.org/ethnomathematique-des-jeux-de-ficelle-trobriandais</footnote>
<figure><img src="image_5.png" /><figcaption>Fig. 2. String figure procedure *wayu* (fairy yam), North Ambrym, Vanuatu.</figcaption></figure>

NB: a full square on a finger indicates the release of this finger's loop. A “N” on a finger indicates the implementation of the operation called “Navaho” in anthropological literature on string figures.

Pictures © Vandendriessche.

A “sub-procedure” can then be defined as any succession of elementary operations either shared, that is, used in the same way in several string figure procedures, or iterated in the
same one (iterative sub-procedures) (Fig. 3). Many sub-procedures—which have a noticeable impact on certain configurations of the string—have been clearly identified, memorized and sometimes named by string figure creators/practitioners.

<figure><img src="image_6.png" /><figcaption>Fig. 3. Illustration of a “sub-procedure”: the same sequence of elementary operations used twice (see fig.3.1, fig.3.2, fig.3.3 and fig.3.4, fig.3.5, fig.3.6) in the *wayu* string figure procedure (see Fig. 2). Pictures © Vandendriessche.</figcaption></figure>

Indeed, the concepts of “elementary operation” and “sub-procedure” have been introduced as an observer’s conceptual tools for analytical purposes. However, these concepts often echo through the Indigenous peoples’ use of a few vernacular terms referring to movements in string figure-making, suggesting a local perception of the notions of elementary operations and sub-procedures<fnref n="11" />.

The concept of “transformation” is at work on different levels within all the string figure corpora that I have studied so far. On one hand, this concept is omnipresent since a string figure is the result of the continuous transformation of a loop of string. On the other, the sources suggest that the practitioners worked out how to transform one figure into another (Fig. 4).

<footnote n="11">¹¹ Vandendriessche, Eric, “Cultural and Cognitive Aspects of String Figure-Making in the Trobriand Islands. *Journal de la société des Océanistes* 138-139 (2014), pp. 209–224.</footnote>
Fig. 4. Illustration of a “transformation” of a string figure into another. The string figure *wayu* (Fig. 2) is known in the Trobriand Islands as *salibu* (mirror). There, this figure is transformed—as part of a string figure procedure called *mwaya tomdawaya* (Tomdawaya crosses the river)—in a string figure made with 4 “lozenges” in a row. The latter is also the final figure (modulo a reversal) of the trobriander procedure *kalatu gebi navalulu* (linen for young mother)<fnref n="12" />. Pictures © Vandendriessche.

<figure><img src="image_7.png" /></figure>

The activity of creating new string figure procedures has thus required an intellectual task of selecting the elementary operations and organizing them in procedures. There is no doubt that this work has consisted in identifying ordered sets of elementary operations—the sub-procedures—having a noticeable impact on different substrata (configurations of the string).

String figures thus appear as the result of genuine algorithms (in the sense of ordered sequence of operations). Based on an algorithmic practice, the production of string figure algorithms is also of a “geometrical” and “topological” order, insofar as it is based on investigations into complex spatial configurations, aiming at displaying either a 2-dimensional or a 3-dimensional figure. The transformations of a figure into another, and the iteration of sub-procedures, previously mentioned, confirm this point.

These results raise many other questions. How do the “elementary operation” and “sub-procedure” actually operate on the string? Do they allow to get a complete picture of a string figure procedure in time and space? Can we predict the consequences of the implementation

<footnote n="12">¹² See the webpages http://www.rehseis.cnrs.fr/www/vandendriessche/kaninikula/OpeningsA/OpeningA/59-mwaya-tomdawaya/59-mwaya-tomdawaya.html https://stringfigures.huma-num.fr/items/show/349</footnote>
of an elementary operation on the rest of the procedure? How are the elementary operations
and sub-procedures involved in the form of a given corpus of string figures?

In order to tackle these issues, mathematical tools have been developed, enabling to model
string figure procedures, and, concomitantly, to make hypotheses on how the practitioners
from different societies have explored these procedures.

Modeling tools for investigating string figure procedures

In the specialized literature, one can identify three main lines of research regarding the
mathematical modeling of string figure procedures. First, the encoding of the elementary
operations involved in these procedures, enabling to rewrite any string figure algorithm as a
mathematical formula. In that perspective, different “symbolic approaches” to string figures
have been introduced by a few mathematicians over the 20th century<fnref n="13" />. Recently, as part of
the ETKnoS project, we have refined the latter contributions and develop a new symbolic
writing for encoding string figure procedures<fnref n="14" />. With the goal of carrying out a comparative
and statistical analysis of the occurrence of the elementary operations—involved in different
string figure corpora, we have been led by the idea of creating a symbolic system permitting
to easily isolate (within the whole process) each of these elementary operations.

The second line of research has consisted in developing tools for describing unambiguously
the different string configurations reached during the process, and the final figure in
particular. For that purpose, concepts have been borrowed from the mathematical Knot
Theory<fnref n="15" />.

<footnote n="13">¹³ Amir-Moez, Ali Reza, Mathematics and String Figures (Ann Arbor, Michigan: Edwards Brothers, 1965); Storer, Thomas, "String Figures," *Bulletin of the String Figures Association* 16-1 (1988), pp. 1–212.</footnote>

<footnote n="14">¹⁴ Vandendriessche, Eric, “A New Symbolic Writing for Encoding String Figure Procedures,” *Bulletin of the International String Figure Association* 26 (2019), pp. 182–208. See also: https://stringfigures.huma-num.fr/symbolic-writing</footnote>

<footnote n="15">¹⁵ Storer, “String Figures”; Read, Ron, “An abbreviated notation for recording string figures,” *Bulletin of String Figures Association* 9 (1983), pp. 13–20; Yamada Masahi, Rahmat Budiarto, Hidomori Itoh, Hirohisa Seki, “Topology of cat’s cradle diagrams and its characterization using knots polynomials,” *Transactions of Information Processing Society of Japan* 38-8 (1997), pp. 1573–1582. (In Japanese); Probert, Martin, “The Testing and</footnote>
Finally, modeling tools have been created to capture the movement(s) of the string(s) during the process, without taking into account the way the fingers operate on them. It is indeed the case for the “heart-sequence” mathematical tool introduced by mathematician Thomas Storer<fnref n="16" />. The string running around a finger forms a “loop”. Storer pointed out that many string figures all over the world can be seen as the result of sequences of operations implemented on the “loops”, such as the insertion of a loop into another, the transfer to a loop from one finger to another and the rotation of a loop.

## Overview of the heart-sequence modeling tool

The following pictures show the making of the string figure *Niu* (sun) from the Solomon Islands<fnref n="17" />. The procedure begins by the “Opening A” (Fig. 5.1)<fnref n="18" />, that Storer suggested to encode *O*.A

<footnote>Correcting of String Figure Diagrams,” *Bulletin of the International String Figure Association* 20 (2013), pp. 18–38.</footnote>

<footnote n="16">¹⁶ Storer, “String Figures”; See also: Vandendriessche, *String Figures as Mathematics?*, pp. 111–148.</footnote>

<footnote n="17">¹⁷ Maude, Honor, *Solomon Island String Figures* (Canberra : Homa Press, 1978).</footnote>

<footnote n="18">¹⁸ An “Opening” is a sequence of operations by which a string figure procedure starts to create some loops on the fingers. The expression “Opening A” is due to Rivers and Haddon (see Rivers & Haddon, “A Method of Recording String Figures and Tricks”). Opening A has a high occurrence in numerous corpora from many different geographical areas.</footnote>
<figure><img src="image_8.png" /><figcaption>Fig. 5. Making of the string figure *Niu* (sun), Solomon Islands, South Pacific. Pictures © Vandendriessche</figcaption></figure>

Looking at the first four steps of *Niu*, and focusing on the motion of loops, one can see that this series of operations aims at inserting the thumb loops (the yellow ones) from above into the index loops (the black ones), as shown in Fig. 6.

<figure><img src="image_9.png" /><figcaption>Fig. 6. Heart-sequence of *Niu*: the first four steps (see Fig. 5). Pictures © Vandendriessche</figcaption></figure>

Formally, this insertion is encoded
$$ \overrightarrow{1\infty} \downarrow (2\infty) $$

the horizontal and vertical arrows indicate the motion of the thumb loops and its insertion into the index loops.

The square will be used to encode the releasing of a finger. Finally, right horizontal arrows symbolize the transfer of a loop to another finger and the symbols “greater than” and “lesser than” are used for encoding rotations of loops. The following table gives some examples of such coding:

<table><tr><td><b>Releasing</b></td><td>□2</td><td>Release 2 (i.e. the index fingers) and consequently the loops carried on the indices are removed</td></tr><tr><td><b>Transferring</b></td><td><u>1∞</u> → 3<br><u>5∞</u> → 1</td><td>1 (thumb) loops move away from the practitioner and under all intermediate strings (if any), then is transferred to 3 (middle finger)<br>5 (little finger) loops move towards the practitioner and over all intermediate strings (if any), then is transferred to 1 (thumb)</td></tr><tr><td><b>Rotating</b></td><td>&gt; 2∞<br>&lt; 2∞</td><td>Rotate 2 loops 180° anticlockwise<br>Rotate 2 loops 180° clockwise<br>In both cases, for an observer located on the left side of the practitioner</td></tr></table>

Consequently, the heart-sequence of the four first steps of *Niu* is given by

$$ \underline{O.A}: \overrightarrow{1\infty} \downarrow (2\infty): \underline{1\infty} \rightarrow 3 $$

<caption>Fig. 7. Heart-sequence of *Niu*: steps 5 and 6 (see Fig. 5). Pictures © Vandendriessche.</caption>
<figure><img src="image_10.png" /></figure>

As for the heart-sequence of the next two steps (5 and 6, in Fig. 5 above), one can see that the latter aim at inserting from below the little finger loops (the red ones) into the index loops (the black ones); then the little finger loops are transferred to the thumbs (see Fig. 7). This sequence can then be coded:

$$\underline{5\infty} \uparrow (2\infty) : \overline{5\infty} \rightarrow 1$$

The last step consists in displaying the figure, in releasing the index fingers and extending the string (encoded as a vertical bar). Final sequence thus coding as

$\square 2|$

Niu's heart-sequence formula is then given by

$$\underline{O.A}: \left\{ \begin{array}{l} \overrightarrow{1\infty} \downarrow (2\infty) : \underline{1\infty} \rightarrow 3 \\ \underline{5\infty} \uparrow (2\infty) : \overline{5\infty} \rightarrow 1 \end{array} \right\} : \square 2|$$

Although not possible in practice, the two sequences $\underline{O.A}: \overrightarrow{1\infty} \downarrow (2\infty) : \underline{1\infty} \rightarrow 3$ and $\underline{5\infty} \uparrow (2\infty) : \overline{5\infty} \rightarrow 1$ can theoretically be performed simultaneously. In Storer's heart
sequence symbolic system, this phenomenon is encoded by writing down the two sequences
in the column into brackets.

By focusing on these loop movements during a string figure process, and by converting them
into a mathematical formula, the heart-sequence gives—what I have suggested calling—a
“topological” view of a string figure algorithm<fnref n="19" />. Finally, by analogy with the practice of a
musical instrument, a heart-sequence can be seen as a music score. The reconstruction of a
corresponding string figure procedure would thus be analogous to the search of an accurate
“fingering” to “play the music” with the instrument i.e. to implement a given heart-sequence
with our body. Several fingerings are then possible<fnref n="20" />.

Using and developing further this modelling tool enable us to shed new light on certain
phenomena which frequently occur in the string figure corpora, such as the transformation of
one figure into another, the occurrence of different paths to obtain the same final figure and
the making of particular patterns.

Furthermore, this mathematical approach to string figures affords a new reading of string
figure procedures which allow them to be classified. For instance, although various different
methods to form a “double sided lozenge” figure (such as *Niu*) can be found in geographically
and culturally distant societies, only two classes of heart-sequences have been identified (see
Fig. 8). More precisely, I have suggested to define the “double sided lozenge” string figure
procedures belonging of the same class as “dynamically equivalent” in the sense that their
heart-sequences can be obtained from one another through symmetries, thus explaining
certain symmetry relationship between final figures<fnref n="21" />.

<footnote n="19">¹⁹ See Vandendriessche, *String Figures as Mathematics*, p. 126.</footnote>

<footnote n="20">²⁰ See Vandendriessche, *String Figures as Mathematics*, pp. 138–139.</footnote>

<footnote n="21">²¹ See Vandendriessche, *String Figures as Mathematics*, pp. 151–182.</footnote>
8.1

<figure><img src="image_11.png" /></figure>

$$ \underline{O.A}: \left\{ \begin{array}{l} \overrightarrow{1\infty} \downarrow (2\infty): \underline{1\infty} \to 3 \\ \overrightarrow{5\infty} \uparrow (2\infty): \underline{5\infty} \to 1 \end{array} \right\} : \square 2 $$

8.2

<figure><img src="image_12.png" /></figure>

$$ \underline{O.A}: \underline{1\infty}(5\infty): \overrightarrow{1\infty}(5\infty): \ll \underline{1\infty} \uparrow (2\infty): \square 2 $$

<caption>Fig. 8. The two classes (Group I and Group II) of heart-sequences leading to a "double sided lozenge" string figure. (8.1) String figure *Niu* belongs to Group I: starting with Opening A, followed by the movement of two pairs of loops (generally $1\infty$ and $5\infty$), both passing through a third pair of loops (generally $2\infty$), one from above and the other from below.</caption>

(8.2) String figure *Jasytata* (star), Chaco Paraguay, belongs to Group II: starting with Opening A, followed by the movement of one pair of loops (generally $1\infty$ or $5\infty$), passing around a second (generally and respectively $5\infty$ or $1\infty$) and through a third pair of loops (generally $2\infty$).

## To conclude

Recently, I have set up a new collective project aiming at developing further the modeling of string figures. First, a computer tool has been developed for displaying a string figure on the screen—from its encoding using Storer's calculus for string figures—, while implementing the transformation of string configurations through elementary operations. Furthermore, this computer program should be further enhanced to automatically generate heart-sequences from the encoding of string figure procedures. Second, we are currently working at refining the heart-sequence modeling tool in an attempt to create a genuine calculus, through different operational rules, using the mathematical notion of “Groups”. Such heart-sequence calculus should enable us to bring to light similarities between string figure procedures that are very different at first sight, but leading to the same (or similar) final figures.

All of these tools will be of fundamental importance for carrying out further ethnomathematical comparative research of the various string figure corpora (collected so
far), at the level of the procedures, as well as the string configurations. In the line of Storer’s
project, this should enable us “to explicate the ‘structure’ underlying the set of all string-
figures by exploring their interrelations”, while highlighting common and distinctive features
in the ways string figure practices have been carried out and conceptualized from one cultural
context to another.

At another level, such ethnomathematical approach to string figures affords new conceptual
tools to question the mathematical aspects of this practice, in bringing to light how different
actors from various oral tradition societies around the world have explored combinatorics of
spatial operations on strings or loops. More generally, such an approach could be applied to
the study of other practices with geometric and algorithmic characteristics (such as basketry,
mat-making, tattooing, etc.), with the goal of gaining a better understanding of the
development of mathematical knowledge in an oral tradition context, which is an issue at the
core of ethnomathematics.

Acknowledgments

I would like to thank the Editors of the present volume for their valuable comments and
suggestions.