NATIVE NUMBERS
""WBSf t's Native American Heritage
^M Month, but now, more people will
^B have a chance to learn about
,^fc.American'Indian culture year-round.
That's hecause the Smithsonian's
National Museum of the American
Indian recently opened in Washington,
D.C. Richard W. West, founding director
of the museum, told MATH, "The
museum is dedicated to presenting Native-American
cultures as part of communities whose cultures are
vibrant, alive, and will never disappear."
The Lakota are one of the many trihes represented
in the museum's exhibitions. In the early 1800s, they
were the largest Native-American tribe living on the
Great Plains (living in areas which are now North
a, South Dakota, and Minnesota).
WEB For more information about
WISE the Lakota people, visit:
www.carnegiemuseums.org/cmnh/
exhibits/north-south-east-west/lakota/
As in most cultures, math played an
important role in the daily activities of
the Lakota people. We discussed this
with Lydia Whirlwind Soldier, a
Lakota from the Rosehud reservation
in South Dakota. Lydia told us, "The
Lakota needed an advanced numher
system to estimate the population of
the bison herds that at one time
numbered into the millions."
Similar to our counting system, the Lakota
system is based on the numher 10. Numerals have
a ones place, tens place, hundreds place, etc. But
unlike our system, they use words rather than
symbols. Lydia added, "By learning about the
Lakota number system, people will become more
appreciative and undagtanding of our culture."
(Left:) ^
Modern Lakotas in .
ceremonial costumes
near Rosebud, South
Dakota. (Right:) Old and
new at the museum, from a
jaquar-shaped drinking
cup to beaded ^
sneakers! ^
November is Native American Heritage FEATURE
Month. Ceiebrate by iearning the
W H A I T Work with the Liikotu number
Laltota number system! ^ T O O O sv.sti'in to learn sunic hitcresting
jucts ohimt this ciiUnrc. Read "LftiVTiin.tj
Lakota." and then tui.sit't'r the qucstunis.
T^hi' jirst three ifnestions list a IIMIHIH'T".

1 = wanji** hrase next Ut the correct ayuwer

'tes the Uikota facl. In the last twi
2 = nunpa
ms, jolltnv the instruetions given.
3 = yatnni
4 = topa
' The fimr basic Lakota values are
5 = zaptan tjL*, kindness, strength, and wisdom,
6 = sakpe which have heen passed down for
7 = sakowin generations. The worst insult a Lakota can
give is to say* "You live as if you had no...
8 = saglogan
> ''''' ' ' manners."
9 = napcivunke '' " relatives."
10 = wikcemna
' The Lakota often played a game
called "shinny/' similar to the modem-day
sport of...
lacrosse.

Since the Lakota don't view things as

coming to an end, in their language there is
no word ior ,.
graduation.

Fill the correct numher in

the hlank: The Lakota trihe relied upon hison
(buffalo) for clothing, food, housing, and
tools. At the heginning of the 1800.s, there
were 40 million bison on the Great Plains.
Over the next 100 years, white hunters and
soldiers killed almost all of them, and less
than ' '~ bison remained.

Lakota is one of about 155 Native

American languages still spoken in the U.S.
today. Write .^^ in Lakota: