Mathematics in the recreation section of the periodical O Echo, edited by Colégio Anchieta from Porto Alegre/RS

Abstract

This article analyzes the editions of the magazine O Echo, with emphasis on the mathematical knowledge present in the recreation section, existing from 1914 to 1933. As the theme is part of the History of Mathematics Education in the Rio Grande do Sul, this qualitative and documentary study is supported by cultural history to analyze the editions of the magazine, edited by Colégio Anchieta from Porto Alegre. The target audience was the school community and Brazilian Catholic youth. The idea was to insert something that included all the voices for the life of the studious youth, through texts, stories, information, and curiosities, emphasizing moral and religious aspects and education in general. In the Recreation section, puzzles, riddles, and problems predominate. Mathematical knowledge related to arithmetic, geometry, and algebra was observed. Numerical squares, some of these magic, curiosities associated with operations with natural numbers, problems involving fractions, equations and linear systems, sequences, possibilities, and logical reasoning, and challenges with elements and properties of flat geometric shapes were found. In this way, the editors of the magazine O Echo sought to arouse the interest and curiosity of the studious youth, during leisure time, contributing to the magazine's circulation and the formation of Catholic youth in the schools where it circulated.