Ethnomathematics study: Formalizing mathematical representation in the Marosok trading tradition in Minangkabau

Abstract

Ethnomathematics studies mathematical ideas in various cultural activities practiced by ethnic, social or professional groups. This research was carried out as part of the exploration and inventory of ethnomathematics to reveal mathematical representations and formulate a system of calculations used in the Marosok trading tradition by the Minangkabau tribe in West Sumatra. The Marosok buying and selling tradition is the tradition of shaking hands with “marosok” or touching fingers covered with cloth (cover), between sellers and buyers with the aim of obtaining price agreements in buying and selling livestock using nonverbal communication. Qualitative approaches and ethnographic methods through the principles of data collection such as field notes, unstructured interviews, and documentation studies were used in this study. The findings of this study show that mathematical representations of finger symbols and gesture in the Marosok tradition contain basic numbers one, two, three, four, five and two and a half as well as two types of operations, namely addition and subtraction. This mathematical representation is used to obtain other numbers needed in livestock buying and selling transactions using a certain formula.