AMUCHMA-NEWSLETTER-28
Chairman: Paulus Gerdes (Mozambique)
Secretary: Ahmed Djebbar (Algeria)
Members:
|
Cyprien Gnanvo (Benin) |
Salimata Doumbia (Côte d'Ivoire) |
|
Nefertiti Megahed (Egypt) |
Mohamed Aballagh (Morocco) |
|
Abdoulaye Kane (Senegal) |
David Mosimege (South Africa) |
|
Mohamed Souissi (Tunisia) |
David Mtwetwa (Zimbabwe) |
Associate Members: José Barrios (Canary Islands, Spain), Scott Williams (USA)
in order to make this online edition easily accessible, there are some differences from the original - the pdf version is the same as the original.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Centro de Investigação Etnomatemática, Maputo (Mozambique), 23.04.2004
2.1. International Forum on Integrating Indigenous Ways of Knowledge
At the International Forum on Integrating Indigenous
Ways of Knowledge (October 2-3, Mount Pleasant, Michigan, USA),
organised by the Central Michigan University and the Saginaw Chippewa
Indian Tribe, Paulus Gerdes (Mozambique) presented the theme "Lusona
and other geometrical creations of Africa."
In the days before the realisation of the forum Paulus Gerdes
gave a series of talks:
He also gave an informal presentation at the Saginaw Chippewa Tribal College (September 30) and took part in the research colloquium / round table on "Indigenous scholars / practitioners / teachers sharing their wisdom on infusing indigenous knowledge into education."
2.2. Winter University on the History and Epistemology of Science (Cairo, Egypt)
The Universities of Cairo and Lille (France) organised a Winter University on the History and Epistemology of Science that took place from 24 to 30 January, 2004, at the University of Cairo (Egypt). The lectures and workshops were for Egyptian mathematics teachers and inspectors, scientific journalists and translators. The following topics concerning the historiography of mathematics were presented:
2.3. Papers presented at recent meetings
At the Symmetry Festival 2003 (Budapest, Hungary, August 16-20, 2003), Ramila Patel (Swaziland) presented the paper "Symmetry in patterns on Swazi grass mats" (28 p.).
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Aliyu Ibrahim Kiri is a doctoral student at the Bayero University in Kano (Nigeria) doing his research under the supervision of Muhammad Bello, the University's Deputy Vice-Chancellor. His thesis is tentatively called "An analysis of the mathematics used by local Islamic scholars in Northern Nigeria." In particular the use of magic squares will be studied. He plans to interview a number of prominent Islamic scholars, known for their use of mathematics.
5.1 Papers on the Ishango bone by Dirk Huylebrouck (cf. # 426)
The following are a series of papers on the Ishango bone by Dirk Huylebrouck (Belgium):
"Describes the Ishango bone (Congo / Zaire) as a Mesolithic mathematical artifact, some interpretations of the notches, and uses. Shallit remarks in a letter to the editor (Vol. 19, No. 3, p. 7) that papers by A. S. Brooks present a date of 20,000 years ago (not 11,000 years ago as stated by Huylebrouck) for the bone. Yet, no polemics was engaged to set its true age at 22,000 years ago (20,000 B.C.) in an additional letter to the editor."
"Summarizes the popular 'astronomical' and 'arithmetical' explanations about the origin of the base 12 and the related use of the number 60, to reject them in favor of the ethnomathematical counting hypothesis the phalanxes of one hand with the thumb."
"A vulgarization about the Ishango rod, the oldest mathematical object, in a glossy science magazine for a wide audience. Includes large colour pictures."
"In the 1968 movie 2001, A Space Odyssey the opening scene shows a human ancestor throwing his first discovery, the use of a bone as a tool, into space. As to realize Kubrick's metaphor, the Ishango rod was brought in zero gravity during a parabolic flight of the European Space Agency. By carrying this oldest mathematical object with him, moviemaker Georges Kamanayo (Rwanda) became the first weightless 'African-European'."
"A rather assertive paper in which the author expresses his disappointment for the lack of interest in Flanders (Belgium) for African mathematics."
"Presents details on the Ishango rod, original pictures of the excavation site, a paper model of the object, explanations about the difficulties with the dating of the object, and, in particular, the new interpretation of the notches by V. Pletser."
5.2 Examples of Books published by African Mathematicians (1)
To give the readers of the AMUCHMA Newsletter an impression of books and booklets published by African mathematicians, we start in this issue to present examples. Any reader who has information on books not yet referred to in the AMUCHMA Newsletter, please contact the editors.
Dzinotyiweyi, Henri A. M. (Zimbabwe, former
Vice-President AMU for Southern Africa [1991-1995]):
* The analogue of the group algebra for topological semigroups,
Pitman Advanced Publishing Program, Boston (USA), 1984, 196 p.
* A first course in mathematical analysis, C.B.S. Publishers,
Delhi (India), 1986.
Ezin, Jean-Pierre (Benin, Secretary-General
of the AMU):
* (Ed.): Fibre bundles: their use in physics, World Scientific,
Singapore, 1988, 175 p.
Hassan, Mohamed H. A. (Sudan, President of
the African Academy of Sciences):
* together with Farouk El-Baz (Eds.): Physics of desertification,
Kluwer, Dordrecht (Netherlands), 1986, 473 p.
* et al. (Eds.): The role of women in the development of science
and technology in the Third World, World Scientific, Singapore,
1991, 970 p.
* Science and technology for the socio-economic development
of Africa, RANDFORUM Press, Nairobi (Kenya), 1993, 29 p.
Hogbe-Nlend, Henri (Cameroon, First President
of the African Mathematical Union 1975-1986):
* Théorie des bornologies et applications [Theory
of bornologies and applications], Springer, Berlin (Germany),
1971, 168 p. (in French).
* Distributions et bornologie [Distributions and bornology],
Universidade de São Paulo, São Paulo (Brazil), 1973,
143 p. (in French).
* Bornologies and functional analysis: introductory course
on the theory of duality topology-bonology and its use in functional
analysis, North-Holland, Amsterdam (Netherlands), 1977, 144
p.
* Hogbe-Nlend, Henri: & Vincenzo B. Moscatelli: Nuclear
and conuclear spaces: introductory courses on nuclear and conuclear
spaces in the light of the duality "topology-bornology",
North-Holland, Amsterdam (Netherlands), 1981, 275 p.
Kuku, Aderemi O. (Nigeria, Past President of
the African Mathematical Union 1986-1995):
* together with J. Rawnsley & E. Thoma: Group representation
and its applications [Lectures given at the International
Summer School on Group Representation and its Applications, August
17-September 11, 1981, Ibadan, Nigeria], CIMPA, Nice (France),
1985, 221 p.
* together with H. Bass & C. Pedrini (Eds.): Algebraic
K-theory and its applications [Proceedings of a workshop and
symposium, ICTP, Trieste, Italy], World Scientific, Singapore,
1999, 607 p.
Masenge, Ralph W. P. (Tanzania)
* together with W. F. Reichert: Fundamentals of numerical methods,
Dar es-Salaam University Press, Dar es-Salaam (Tanzania), 1974,
97 p.
* Masenge, Ralf W. P.: Basic Numerical Methods, Dar es-Salaam
University Press, Dar es-Salaam (Tanzania), 1988, 232 p.
Mshimba, Ali Seif (Tanzania):
* together with W. Tutschke (Eds.): Functional analytic methods
in complex analysis, World Scientific, Singapore, 1990.
* Mshimba, Ali Seif: Basic complex analysis, Dar es-Salaam
University Press, Dar es-Salaam (Tanzania), 1992.
Salbany, Sérgio (South Africa):
* Bitopological spaces, compactifications and completions,
Math Monographs of the University of Cape Town, Cape Town (South
Africa), Volume 1.
None were received
7.1 Publications on the History of Mathematics in Africa
#403 Chrisomalis, Stephen: The Egyptian
origin of the Greek alphabetic numerals, Antiquity,
Vol. 77, No. 297, September 2003, 485-496.
This article deals with he same basic material as Zaslavsky's
paper (#416), but emphasizes the historical, rather than the mathematical,
point of view.
#404 Djebbar, Ahmed: Les activités mathématiques au Maghreb à travers le témoignage d'Ibn Khaldûn [Mathematical activities in the Maghreb through the testimony of Ibn Khaldûn], Actes des journées sur "Les sciences dans la phase de déclin" (Marrakech, 8-11 February 2001), Faculté des Lettres et Sciences Humaines, Rabat (Morocco), 2003, 7-22.
#405 Djebbar, Ahmed: Quelques exemples de scholies dans la tradition arabe des Eléments d'Euclide [Some examples of scholies in the Arab tradition of Euclid's Elements], Revue d'Histoire des Sciences, Paris (France), 2003, Vol. 56, No. 2, 293-321.
#406 Djebbar, Ahmed: Les activités mathématiques médiévales, un exemple d'échanges scientifiques et interculturels en Méditerranée [Medieval mathematical activities, an example of scientific and intercultural exchange in the Mediterranean], in: E. Gallo, L. Giacardi & O. Robutti (Eds.), Conferenze e Seminari 2002-2003, Publication du Seminario di Storia delle Matematiche "Tullio Viola", Turin (Italy), 2003, 287-308..
#407 Djebbar, Ahmed: Mathématiques et société à travers un écrit maghrébin du XIVe siècle [Mathematics and society through a Maghrebian writing of the 14th century], Actes du colloque international "De la Chine à l'Occitanie, chemins entre arithmétique et algèbre" (Toulouse, 22-24 September 2000), Editions du C.I.H.S.O., Toulouse (France), 2003, 29-54.
#408 Djebbar, Ahmed: Les activités mathématiques en Andalus et leur prolongement au Maghreb (IXe-XVe siècles) [Mathematical activities in Andalus and their extension to the Maghreb (9th 15th century)], Journées de la Société Catalane d'Histoire des Sciences et des Techniques (Barcelona, 15-17 November 2002), Societat Catalana d'Historia de la Ciencia i la Tecnica, Barcelona (Spain), 87-112
#409 Djebbar, Ahmed: Nasîr ad-Dîn at-Tûsî, un savant polygraphe du XIIIe siècle [Nasîr ad-Dîn at-Tûsî, a polygraphic scholar of the 13th century], Revue Farhang, Teheran (Iran), 2003, 159-181.
#410 Djebbar, Ahmed: La science islamique: naissance et développement à travers l'exemple des mathématiques [Islamic science: Birth and development through the example of mathematics], Ayene-ye Miras [Mirror of Heritage], Quarterly Journal of Book Review, Teheran (Iran), 2003, New series, Vol. 5, No. 4 (No. 20), 27-50.
#411 Djebbar, Ahmed: La phase arabe de l'histoire de la trigonométrie [The Arab phase in the history of trigonometry], Actes du colloque "Les instruments scientifiques dans le patrimoine: quelles mathématiques ?" (Rouen, 6-8 April 2001), Editions Ellipse Paris (France), 2004, 415-435
#412 Djebbar, Ahmed: Du nombre pensé
à la pensée du nombre: quelques aspects de la pratique
arithmétique arabe et de ses prolongements en Andalus et
au Maghreb [From the thought number to the thinking of number:
Some aspects of the Arab arithmetical practice and its continuation
in Andalusia and in the Maghreb], in: C. Alvarez, J. Dhombres
& J.-C. Pont (Eds.), Actes de la "Rencontre
Internationale de Peyresc sur la pensée numérique"
(Peyresc, 7-10 September 1999), Sciences et Techniques en Perspective,
Brepols (Belgium), 2004, Second Series, Vol. 8, No. 1, 303-322.
The article presents what is known about the arithmetical practices
from the Islamic East that have circulated in Andalusia and in
the Maghreb and that were continued in both regions.
#413 Gerdes, Paulus: Symmetries on mats
woven by Yombe women from the Lower Congo area: On the interplay
between cultural values and mathematical-technical possibilities,
in: Dorothy K. Washburn & Donald W. Crowe (Eds.), Symmetry
Comes of Age, The Role of Pattern in Culture, University of
Washington Press, Seattle, 2004, 81-99.
Analyses mathematical ideas involved in the designing and production
of mats by Yombe women from the Lower Congo area at the end of
the 19th century and the beginning of the 20th century.
#414 Grattan-Guinness, Ivor & B. S. Yadav
(Eds.): History of the Mathematical Sciences, Hindustan
Book, New Delhi (India), 2004, 244 p.
Proceedings of the International Conference on the History of
the Mathematical Sciences held at New Delhi from December 21-23,
2001. Contains two chapters dealing with mathematics in Africa:
* Milo Gardner: The Egyptian mathematical leather roll (119-134);
* Gregg De Young: A new source of evidence for the lost Arabic
translations of Euclid's Elements (149-164).
#415 Rincon, Paul: Greeks borrowed Egyptian Numbers, BBC Science, London (UK), September 2003 [http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/3109806.stm]
#416 Zaslavsky, Claudia: The Influence of
Ancient Egypt on Greek and Other Numeration Systems, Mathematics
Teaching in the Middle School, NCTM, Reston VA (USA), Vol.
9, No. 3, November 2003, 174-178.
"The article traces the development of the alphabetic numeration
systems of the early Greeks, Hebrews, and Arabs to the concepts
underlying ancient Egyptian hieratic numeration, and includes
activities for students."
7.2 Publications on the History of Mathematics in Africa, Ethnomathematics and / or Mathematics Education
#417 Bazin, Maurice & Modesto Tamez: Math
and Science Across Cultures, Activities and Investigations from
the Exploratorium, The New Press, New York, 2002, 176 p.
Papers with activities related to mathematics from Africa are:
* Paulus Gerdes: Sona: Sand drawings from Africa (3-15)
* Robert Lange: Madagascar Solitaire: Playing Games (25-31)
* Maurice Bazin & Modesto Tamez: Counting like an Egyptian:
Egyptian math (47-59).
#418 Bello, Muhammad Yahuza: Indigenous
Hausa Number System, Afrikanische Arbeitspapiere (African
Working Papers), Institut für Afrikanistik, Universität
Köln, Köln (Germany), No. AAP-70, 2002, 191-198.
Analyses the structure of the Arabic- and English-free number
words in the Hausa language (Nigeria). The indigenous Hausa number
system has base ten, with numerals for the first four powers of
ten. Both the additive and the subtractive principles are used.
For instance, 98 is xari ba goma (100 less 2).
#419 Garegae-Garekwe, Kgomotso
G.: Teachers' Beliefs about mathematics, its teaching and learning
and the communication of these beliefs to students: A case study
in Botswana, Ph.D. dissertation, University of Manitoba, Winnipeg,
Manitoba (Canada), 2002, 302 p.
"The study focused on teachers' beliefs about mathematics,
its teaching and learning and the communication of these beliefs
to students. It is a qualitative case study of three Junior Secondary
School mathematics teachers. Data collection techniques included
classroom observations, interviews, concept amps, personal essays,
and perusal of official documents. In addition to responding to
open-ended questionnaires, students constructed concept maps about
their teachers' views about the teaching and learning of mathematics.
Ernest's (1989; 1991) three categories of personal philosophies
were used to categorize teachers' beliefs about mathematics, its
teaching and learning, Thamo, was categorized as an Instrumentalist,
and his instructional practices were incongruent with his views
about mathematics teaching and learning. The other two teachers
(Kgosing & Letsomane), who were categorized both as Platonists,
had their views about mathematics learning and teaching consistent
with their instructional practices. Letsomane's instructional
practices were inconsistent with his views about the nature of
mathematics. The study also showed that apart from being influenced
by subject beliefs and contextual constraints, teachers could
be influenced by other factors including their educational philosophical
stance. It was found that teachers convey their beliefs to students
through verbal and non-verbal instructional behaviors and practices."
#420 Gerdes, Paulus: Mathematical Thinking
and Geometric Exploration in Africa and Elsewhere, Diogenes,
UNESCO & Sage Press, London, 2004, No. 202, 107-122.
Paper originally written for presentation at the international
conference "Towards an encounter of rationalities" (Porto
Novo, Benin, 2002).
#421 Gerdes, Paulus: Pensée mathématique
et exploration géométrique en Afrique et ailleurs,
Revue Diogène, Presses Universitaires de France
& UNESCO, Paris (France), 2003, No. 202, 126-144.
French language version of # 420.
#422 Gerdes, Paulus: Symmetry-Geometry Aspects
of Mavuku Baskets among the Makhuwa (Mozambique),
Symmetry: Culture and Science, Vol. 12, No. 1-2, Budapest,
2003, 87-114.
Presents an analysis of mavuku containers produced by Makhuwa
basket weavers in the Northeast of Mozambique. The containers
consist of two twill woven circular trays. The paper analyses
the symmetries and the geometric structure of the weaving designs.
The know-how of the old master-weaver Mulaliha from Rapale receives
particular attention.
#423 Gerdes, Paulus: Exploring Plaited Plane
Patterns among the Tonga in Inhambane (Mozambique), Symmetry:
Culture and Science, Vol. 12, No. 1-2, Budapest, 2003, 115-126.
Discusses a class of plane patterns encountered on twill-plaited
baskets recently made by Tonga artisans, mostly women, where coloured
strands alternate with groups of natural-coloured strands. Within
the conditions considered by the basket weavers and taking into
account the symmetries, they discovered all possible solutions.
#424 Gerdes, Paulus: Sipatsi: Cestaria
e Geometria na Cultura Tonga de Inhambane [Sipatsi: Basketry
and Geometry in the Tonga Culture of Inhambane], Moçambique
Editora, Maputo, 2003, 176 p. (32 pages in colour) (in Portuguese).
The book explains how artisans produce beautiful hand bags, called
sipatsi in Gitonga, a language spoken in the Mozambican
province of Inhambane. The activity of weaving sipatsi
is originally a female activity. The book presents a catalogue
of 362 decorative strip patterns plaited into the sipatsi,
resulting from collecting sipatsi for more than twenty-five
years. It also includes suggestions for the mathematical-educational
use of sipatsi, varying from the study of composition and
symmetries to the study of progressions and pentagons. The book
concludes with the presentation of some new phenomena in the production
of sipatsi, underlining the geometric-artistic creativity
of the basket weavers, and a comparison of sipatsi-patterns
with some woven strip patterns from other cultures (Northeast
of Mozambique, Mexico and Brazil). Alcido Nguenha, the Minister
of Education of Mozambique, wrote the preface.
#425 Gerdes, Paulus: Ethnomathematics as
a new research field, illustrated by studies of mathematical ideas
in African history, in: Tinne Hoff Kjeldsen, Stig Andur Pedersen
& Lise Mariane Sonne-Hansen, New Trends in the History
and Philosophy of Mathematics, University Press of Southern
Denmark, Odense, 2004, 135-161.
Paper presented at the conference 'New Trends in the History and
Philosophy of Mathematics' (Roskilde, Denmark, 1998).
#426 Huylebrouck, Dirk: Afrika en wiskunde.
Etnowiskunde in zwart Afrika, vanaf de koloniale tijd terug naar
de oudste wiskundige vondst van de mensheid: het Ishangobeen
[Africa and mathematics. Ethnomathematics in black Africa from
the colonial times backwards to the oldest mathematical find of
humanity: the Ishango bone], Author's edition, Schaarbeek (Belgium),
246 p. (in Flemish).
This book is the by-product of more than hundred lectures given
around Belgium for pupils of high schools and candidates for working
in developing countries. It contains the following parts and
chapters: Chap. 1 "Ethno-mathematics: why?" (p. 9-17);
Chap. 2 "Sources for African ethno-mathematics" (19-26);
Part 1 "Introductory mathematical voyage," Chap. 3 "Narrative
and musical introduction" (29-44); Chap. 4 "Creative
counting in Africa" (45-62); Chap. 5 "Drawing"
(63-83); Chap. 6 "Reasoning without writing" (85-111);
Chap. 7 "Multiplication following the Yoruba and Ethiopian
way" (113-128); Part 2 "The Ishango bone", Chap.
8 "The Ishango site" (131-142); Chap. 9 "Mathematical
notches" (143-153); Chap. 10 "Missing link" (155-169);
Chap. 11 "Not out of Africa" (171-180); Part 3 "Multicultural
mathematics, from Africa to space," Chap. 12 "Black
mathematics" (183-212); Chap. 13 "An imaginative idea"
(213-226); References (227-236).
7.3 Other publications on the History of Mathematics by African mathematicians
#427 Gerdes, Paulus: Níjtyubane -
Sobre Alguns Aspectos Geométricos da Cestaria Bora na Amazónia
Peruana [Níjtyubane - On some geometrical aspects
of Bora basketry in the Peruvian Amazon], Revista Brasileira
de História da Matemática, Rio Claro (Brazil),
Vol. 3, No. 6, 3-22.
The paper discusses some geometrical aspects of Bora basketry
in the Peruvian Amazon. In particular, twill-plaited, circular
trays called níjtyubane are analysed. Elements
of their production and of the creation and transformation of
geometric patterns are studied. An outline of their historical
development is presented that stresses the similarity and the
cultural diversity.
7.4 Publications on the History of Mathematics and the African Diaspora
None were reported.
7.5 Reviews
#428 Lumpkin, Beatrice (Chicago, USA): Paulus Gerdes' 'Awakening of Geometrical Thought in Early Culture', Political Affairs: Ideology, Politics and Culture, New York (USA), 2003, Vol. 82, No. 10, 40-41 (cf. #388).
#429 Zaslavsky, Claudia (New York, USA): Paulus Gerdes' 'Awakening of Geometrical Thought in Early Culture', Indilinga, African Journal of Indigenous Knowledge Systems, Isipingo (South Africa), Vol. 2, No. 1, 115-116; History and Pedagogy of Mathematics Newsletter, Romsey (UK), 2003, No. 53, 9-10 (cf. #388).
7.6 Mathematical books and documents published in Africa
#430 Ezin, Jean-Pierre, Report of
the meeting of the AMU Executive Board, AMU Information Bulletin,
No. 9, Cotonou (Benin), 2003, 10 p.
Report of the meeting of the Executive Board of the African Mathematical
Union held in Cotonou (Benin), January 22-24, 2003.
#431 Yacoubi, Nouzha El; Ismael Cassamo Nhêze;
Luís do Nascimento Paulo & Paulus Gerdes (Eds.),
Proceedings of the 13th Pan African Mathematics Olympiad
of the African Mathematical Union, AMUPAMO & Ministry
of Education, Maputo, 2003, 64 p.
Proceedings of the 13th Pan African Mathematics Olympiad held
in Maputo, Mozambique (April 19-27, 2003), organised by the African
Mathematical Union Commission for the Pan-African Mathematical
Olympiad (AMUPAMO) and hosted by the Ministry of education of
Mozambique. Includes the paper "From African 'sona' drawings
to the discovery of new symmetries and matrices" (51-64)
by Paulus Gerdes.
7.7 Mathematical books published by Africans outside Africa
Cf. 5.2.
8.1 Sixth Pan-African Congress of Mathematicians
The African Mathematical Union organises the
6th Pan-African Congress of Mathematicians (PACOM 2004) from September
1 to September 6, 2004, in Tunis, Tunisia. The general theme
of the congress is "Mathematical Sciences and Development
of Africa."
Fr more information, contact the President of the Local Organising
Committee:
Prof. Abderahman Boukricha, Université
de Tunis El Manar, B.P. 63, 1013 Tunis, Tunisia
(Tel. 00 216 71 703 746, Fax: 00 216 71 704 329, E-mail: pacom@cck.mu.tn)
or consult the website:
www.cck.mu.tn/pacom2004
8.2 Pan-African Mathematics Olympiad 2004 (PAMO 2004)
The 14th edition of the Pan-African Mathematics Olympiad (PAMO 2004) will be hosted by the Republic of Tunisia from August 24 to September 2 in Tunis. The Prize Giving Ceremony will take place during the Opening ceremony of the Pan-African Congress of Mathematicians.
For more information, contact:
Prof. Nouzha El Yacoubi,, Chairperson AMUPAMO,
Département de Mathématiques et d'Informatique,
B.P. 1014, Rabat, Morocco
(Fax: 212 37 77 30 44, E-mail: nelyacoubi@yahoo.fr, elyac-sb@fsr.ac.ma,)
8.3 Eighth Maghrebian Colloquium on the History of Arab Mathematics
The 8th Maghrebian Colloquium on the History of Arab Mathematics will take place in Tunis (Tunisia), December 18-20, 2004.
For more information, contact the President of the Local Organising Committee:
Prof. Mahdi Abdeljaouad, Institut Supérieur de l'Éducation et de la Formation Continue, 43, rue de la Liberté, 2019 Le Bardo, Tunisia, E-mail: mahdi.abdeljaouad@isefc.rnu.tn)
8.4 Annotated Bibliography on Mathematics in African History and Cultures
Paulus Gerdes and Ahmed Djebbar are concluding
an annotated bibliography on Mathematics in African History and
Cultures, to be published in English, French, and Arabic. If
any reader knows of any relevant bibliographic reference not referred
to in any of the issues of the AMUCHMA Newsletter, please inform
the editors as soon as possible:
pgerdes@virconn.com or ahmed.djebbar@math.univ-lille1.fr
8.5 Third International Workshop on Contemporary problems in Mathematical Physics
The International Workshop on Contemporary problems in Mathematical Physics is organised every second year in Benin under the auspices of the Executive Secretariat of the International Chair in Mathematical physics and applications (ICMPA). The third workshop (COPROMAPH3) took place in Cotonou, Benin from November 1 to 7, 2003. Topics for COPROMAPH3 include contributions in nonlinear systems, supersymmetry, quantisation and applications in physics. A special session is on Physics for environmental problems.
For more information, contact:
Prof. M. Hounkonnou, Institut de Mathématiques
et de Sciences Physiques (IMSP), Unité de recherche en
Physique Théorique (URPT), B.P. 2628, Porto-Novo, Benin
(Tel. 229 22 24 55, Fax: 229 22 24 55, E-mail: hounkonnou@yahoo.fr)
8.6 SAMSA Symposium on Mathematics of Finance
The Southern African Mathematical Sciences Association (SAMSA) organised a Symposium on Mathematics of Finance that took place in Lusaka (Zambia, December 2003).
For more information, contact:
Prof. Oluwale D. Makinde, Applied Mathematics
Department, University of the North, Private Bag X1106, Sovenga
0727, South Africa
(Tel. +27 15 26 82 459, Fax: +27 15 29 12 395, E-mail: makinde@unorth.ac.za)
8.7 TWAS Mathematical Prize
With the support of the Third World Academy of Sciences (TWAS), the African Mathematical Union launches its TWAS Mathematical Prize for young African mathematicians (under 35 and living and working in an African country) to be awarded every four years at the occasion of the Panafrican Congress of Mathematicians (PACOM). The first award ceremony will take place at PACOM2004 in Tunisia. Files of candidature have to be received by the AMU Secretariat before May 31, 2004.
For more information, contact:
Prof. Jean-Pierre Ezin, Secretary-General AMU, IMSP, B.P. 613, Porto-Novo, Benin (E-mail: secretariat@imsp-uac.org)
8.8 BENHIMA Mathematics Prize
With the sponsorship of the Haw Assafi Association the African Mathematical Union launches the Dr. Mohammed Benhima Mathematics Prize for African mathematicians under the age of 35. The prize will be awarded every two years at the occasion of the Summer School that the Hawd Assafi organises in Safi (Morocco). The first awarding ceremony will take place in July 2004. Files of candidature have to be received by the HAW ASSAFI Association before May 31, 2004.
For more information, contact:
Secrétariat-Prix Mathematiques Dr. Mohammed BENHIMA, Association HAWD ASSAFI, B.P. 275, Safi Centrale, Safi, Morocco
8.9 Third Symposium on Training and Research on Pan-African Mathematics Olympiads (PAMOSTR 2004)
The AMU Commission on Mathematics Olympiads organises its 3rd Symposium on Training and Research in Cotonou, Benin from April 5 to 10, 2004. The theme is "Towards a harmonisation of the PAMO candidates training".
For more information, contact:
Prof. Nouzha El Yacoubi,, Chairperson AMUPAMO,
Département de Mathématiques et d'Informatique,
B.P. 1014, Rabat, Morocco
(Fax: 212 37 77 30 44, E-mail: nelyacoubi@yahoo.fr, elyac-sb@fsr.ac.ma)
8.10 African Institute for Mathematical Sciences
The Centre for the Manuscripts of the Library of Alexandria, headed by Yousef Zaydan, organises in collaboration with the Institute for the History of Arab Science of Alep (Syria) an international colloquium about "The unknown aspects of the history of Arab science," to be held in Alexandria (Egypt), September 20-30, 2004.
For more information, contact:
Prof. Yousef Zaydan, Fax. +203 48 30 329.
8.11 African Institute for Mathematical Sciences
On September 18, 2003, the African Institute for Mathematical Sciences (AIMS) was launched in Muizenberg near Cape Town (South Africa). "The African Institute for Mathematical Sciences (AIMS) is a new educational centre established in Cape Town, South Africa with the goal of strengthening scientific and technological capacity across the African continent. We are a collaborative project between the Universities of Cape Town, Stellenbosch, Western Cape, Cambridge, Oxford and Paris-Sud XI. AIMS is presenting a postgraduate course taught by top African and international scientists and educators.AIMS is a residential centre and hopes to act as a feeder for more specialised research programmes in South Africa and abroad."
For more information:
www.aims.ca.za or www.aimsforafrica.org
Addresses of scholars and institutions and publishers mentioned in this Newsletter
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Thanks to Scott Williams, the English language edition of all issues of the AMUCHMA Newsletter is also accessible on the following website: http://www.math.buffalo.edu/mad/AMU/amuchma_online.html
Please note the address of the above website changed to the present with AMUCHMA 21.
