Mathematic Differences

When I think back to my elementary mathematic days, I think of the Math Makes Sense Textbook. Unfortunately, math didn’t make sense to a lot of people. I was very fortunate to catch on to the word problems and would often try to help my fellow classmates who couldn’t get the ‘right’ answer. Sometimes I would solve the problem slightly different from the way my teacher had taught it and they would tell me I was wrong. But how can I be wrong if I still got the same answer in the end? This is the way our Eurocentric mathematics works. I do remember math textbooks incorporating cultural names into the odd word problem and having other cultures/races present in the pictures. I would say my textbook tried to incorporate diverse backgrounds and cultures, which limits discrimination towards students.

Eurocentric math and Inuit math have many differences. A huge difference between maths is the language. Indigenous languages are very verb-based whereas Eurocentric math is more noun based. Another difference between the maths is the influences on the systems. Inuit numeration is largely impacted by the environment, culture and language whereas Eurocentric math doesn’t focus on anything outside of word problems, numbers, and the right answer.

Lastly, Poirier’s article talks about a sense of space and relates the word problem to a real-life example. This way of math can eliminate the comment that I constantly hear from my younger brothers, “when will I ever need to use this math.” The only answer I have for them is to pass their class. Perhaps, if Eurocentric math would focus more on math problems that relate to a hunter or a dancer, then students would show more interest and understand why they need to be learning this knowledge. Inuit math makes connections between math and daily like tasks and focuses on math outside of the classroom, in a more practical way.