African Origin of Mathematics

Mentalism, Environmentalism and Symbolism

“The most powerful tool in the hands of the oppressor is the use of ignorance as an antithesis to desensitize the oppressed to accept the non-existence of the thesis in spite of its existence” from The Philosophy of the Triangle by Zulumathabo Zulu.

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By Mocholoko, Zulumathabo Zulu © 2019

Conference Paper to be delivered on February 25-27, 2019 at the Africa Play Conference, Department of Basic Education, Maslow Times Square, Pretoria, Azania (South Africa).

The Preamble

The 2018 Matric pass results of 78.2 % in the land of Azania (South Africa) shows that hundreds of thousands of the cohort of student population who began their matriculation journey 12 years ago did not make it to the finish line. Only about half of the original 1.2 million cohort members reached the finish line as part of those who passed. This attests to the serious glitches in the teaching and learning situation particularly with respect to the subject of mathematics given the forthcoming Fourth Industrial Revolution.

The people of Azania must care about this pedagogical challenge because this class of problems undermines the industrial capacity of Azania to enhance her economic output and to enjoy her unassailable GDP position she has enjoyed for a long time on the African continent but has since slipped away. As a matter of fact, Azania has lost her dominant position as the number one economy on the African continent and has since been overtaken by Africa’s economic heavyweights like Nigeria and more recently Egypt, relegating Azania to the number three status in spite of her excellent technological and financial infrastructure and other historically solid economic performance.

The current solutions to the pedagogical problem of mathematics and science have failed hitherto to hit the spot and to fundamentally alter the problem space. This is the case as a result of failing to enhance the teaching and learning experience of the mathematics and science students. A methodological approach that does not teach the axiomatic rudiments of numbers is bound to miss the mark because mathematics is an axiomatic system and needs to be treated as such in order to engender pedagogical success. Failure to teach the rudiments of axioms about numbers is like teaching chemistry to students but never exposing them to the prerequisite material of atoms or teaching biological science to medical students but without teaching them about the rudiments of the cell. Such an education system will deprive the students of superior analytical and interpretive skills which are critically necessary to succeed in their chosen profession.

This scholarly paper changes the pedagogical landscape by solving the teaching and learning situation problem and exposing the academic audience to the cutting-edge paradigm case of the African origin of mathematics which underpins the power of mathematical axioms to enhance the problem-solving repertoire of the science and mathematics students.

Herein, we propose a new paradigm case that foregrounds African mathematical axioms as a prerequisite material and a gentle introduction to the logic; the relations; the patterns and the sophistication of mathematics by drawing from the observational data that investigates and analyses algorithmic complexity using polynomial and logarithmic intuitive modelling with support material from the Sesotho Dictionary of Mathematics; African Origin of Mathematical Teaching and Learning; and African Metaphysical Science, among others, to demonstrate there is a better way of teaching numbers and making them fun so that we can produce more rigorous scientists; engineers and other practitioners to enhance the industrial capacity of the countries of Mother Africa using the metascience (the strategic knowledge of science) and not just an operational knowledge of science.

What Are the Implications of the New Solution?

The implication of this new paradigmatic approach in the teaching of mathematics is that we can reverse the doldrums status quo in the classrooms by increasing the rate of the epistemic uptake; unlock the true number of mathematical geniuses to buttress the industrial capacity of the country to enhance its economic outputs and create the right set of material conditions to solve problems like unemployment rate; the crime rate and other socio-economic ills that have so far bedevilled the beautiful land of endless sunshine of the erudite ancestors who have gone before us.

You can support me and my research expeditions by making a donation through my company Afrodata Solutions via Paypal or you can buy my books on Amazon. Siyabonga ka khulu (Zulu for we are the grateful ones!). Badimo ke bao! Thokoza Makhosi!