Sociomathematics. In the history of mathematics, sociomathematics (or ethnomathematics) provides succinct and reliable rules about arithmetic, algebraic, and geometric calculations and strategies. When few formal written systems are available, archaeology, architecture, oral tradition, and observed practices and usage provide scholars with clues about a society's understanding of mathematics. This observation is especially true in the case of West Africa, where the people's skill and capacity in mathematics are quite evident.

Number and Counting Systems. Commerce and trade, keys to so much of the life of West African kingdoms and empires, required that people of many different languages be able to communicate effectively with one another. As a consequence, there arose a consistent system of hand signs (also called gesture counting) and sequenced anatomical locations designated to represent numbers. Furthermore, counting of pebbles, seeds, segments of cloth, standard- sized bars of salt, kola nuts...