Etnomatemática e letramento numa feira livre: o caso da cidade de Acari – RN

Abstract

This present task had as main objective to investigate the Ethnomathematics and mathematical literacy implicit in the commercial operations of the fairgrounds in the open-air market in the city of Acari - RN. In order to reach this goal, we rely on the research developed by D'Ambrosio (2001; 2008) on the Ethnomathematics research program and on qualitative research in an ethnographic approach. In order to do so, the study had as central steps visits and observations at the open-air market and the elaboration and application of interviews with two marketers, with the purpose of investigating the mathematical knowledge of the marketers. The analysis of data collected from observations and interviews, in general, shows that there is mathematical knowledge implicit in the handling of the commercialization of their products, and sometimes different from those of academic mathematics. We can observe that there is a relation between the school mathematics with the mathematical literacy and the Ethnomathematics of families that work in an open-air market.