Front Cover -- Copyright -- Dedication -- CONTENTS -- FOREWORD TO THE 1999 EDITION -- FOREWORD TO THE 1973 EDITION -- PREFACE TO THE 1973 EDITION -- SECTION 1 THE BACKGROUND -- 1 African Mathematics? -- 2 Historical Background -- SECTION 2 NUMBERS-WORDS, GESTURES, SIGNIFICANCE -- 3 Construction of Numeration Systems -- 4 How Africans Count -- 5 Taboos and Mysticism -- SECTION 3 NUMBERS IN DAILY LlFE -- 6 The African Concept of Time -- 7 Numbers and Money -- 8 Those Familiar Weights and Measures! -- 9 Record-Keeping: Sticks and Strings -- SECTION 4 MATHEMATICAL RECREATIONS -- 10 Games to Grow On -- 11 The Game Played by Kings and Cowherds-and Presidents, Too! -- 12 Magic Squares -- SECTION 5 PATTERN AND SHAPE -- 13 Geometric Form in Architecture -- 14 Part I: Geometric Form and Pattern in Art -- 14a Part II: Geometric Symmetries in African Art, By D. W. Crowe, with Original Drawings -- SECTION 6 REGIONAL STUDY: SOUTHWEST NIGERIA -- 15 History of the Yoruba States and Benin -- 16 Systems of Numeration -- 17 Significant Numbers -- 18 Time-Reckoning -- 19 Markets and Currency -- SECTION 7 REGIONAL STUDY: EAST AFRICA -- 20 History of East Africa -- 21 Spoken and Gesture Counting -- 22 Number Superstitions -- 23 East African Time -- 24 Wealth Means Cattle-and Other Livestock -- SECTION 8 PAST AND FUTURE -- 25 Pure Mathematics in Africa -- 26 Update: Twenty-Five Years Later -- APPENDIX -- ACKNOWLEDGMENTS -- CHAPTER REFERENCES AND NOTES -- BIOGRAPHICAL NOTES: Marianne Schmidl -- D. W. Crowe -- Frank E. Chapman, Jr. -- BIBLIOGRAPHY -- INDEX -- Section A. Africa: Peoples, Languages, Geography -- A -- B -- C -- D -- E -- F -- G -- H -- I -- J -- K -- L -- M -- N -- P -- R -- S -- T -- U -- V -- X -- Y -- Z -- Section B. Subjects and Selected Authors -- A -- B -- C -- D -- E -- F -- G -- H -- I -- J -- K -- L -- M -- N -- O -- P -- R -- S -- T -- U -- W.

MAPS: Africa Today -- Peoples Discussed in the Text -- Africa: Geographic Features and Ancient Cities -- Old Sudanic Kingdoms -- Distribution of Numeration Systems in Africa -- Sixteenth-Century States of the Nigerian Region -- Eastern Africa: Countries and Peoples.