Ethnomathematics: The connection between culture, history, and mathematics

Abstract. For over 15 years, I have traveled to remote places with Dr. Edwin Barnhart, founder and Director of the Maya Exploration Center, and his team to do archaeological studies associated with ethnomathematics, the connection between culture, history, and mathematics.  In this presentation, I will provide examples of ethnomathematics that I taught in an undergraduate course, as well as in a first-year seminar on the mathematics of pre-Columbian Americas. 

Brief Biography. Dr. Ximena Catepillán is Professor Emerita at Millersville University of Pennsylvania. Dr. Catepillán taught mathematics at Universidad de Magallanes in the Chilean Patagonia prior to coming to USA to study her PhD in mathematics. She is the Chair for the History of Mathematics Interest Group of the MAA, HOM-SIGMAA, an associate editor of the Convergence Journal of the MAA, a member of the editorial board of the Journal of Mathematics and Culture, and Revista Morfismo at Universidad de Santiago de Chile.