Session: 02

Plenary

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Summary

Unfortunately, many of the more professional views of the field convey little else, mostly because some mathematical training is needed to say anything significant. 

In his talk, Dr. Noriega will attempt to go beyond those blunt assertions by exploring some of the uses of Mathematics in Ancient Mexico and Central America. In particular, he will discuss Mayan numerical notation and calendrics and will argue in favor of whatever algebraic sophistication these cultural developments entail. He will also look into land tenure documents from Central Mexico and discuss some of their demographic, economic and geometrical content. In this manner he intends to draw a broad picture of the field while still pointing out some technically interesting details.

The intent is not to compress a senior Anthropology course in a one hour lecture, but rather to give attendants the elements for an educated acquaintance with Mesoamerican Mathematics that would allow for a more enjoyable appreciation of Mayan ruins and profitable further reading.

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He was president of the Mexican Actuarial Association (CONAC) from 1992-94 and the first Mexican member of the Council of Presidents of the North American Actuarial Associations. During his term in office, all North American actuarial associations agreed to sign an understanding agreement for mutual recognition of credentials and professional practice under NAFTA. He was then invited to be part of IFAA's Steering Committee and later on a member of IAA's Education Board.

Although he was originally trained as an Actuary graduated at Universidad Anahuac, México, 71, he did graduate work in Mathematics (Logic, U. Wisconsin-Madison) and holds a Ph D in Computer Science (AI, U. Autonoma de Barcelona). He is a senior scientist in the Spanish National AI Lab. in Barcelona and his current interests are centered in "agent based technologies", mostly in the design of electronic institutions and negotiation mechanisms, from auctions to persuasive negotiation. He has been head policy-maker in Information Technologies for the Mexican Government (98-99 and 89-94) and is still active in that field as well.

His interest in Native American Mathematics is an innocuous perversion that has produced some publications. His main contribution in the field was the identification of positional notation in native land tenure documents of Central Mexico.

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