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An Ethnoarithmetic Excursion into the Javanese Calendar

In: Handbook of the History and Philosophy of Mathematical Practice

Author

Listed:
  • Natanael Karjanto

    (University College, Sungkyunkwan University, Department of Mathematics)

  • François Beauducel

    (Université de Paris, Institut de physique du globe de Paris, CNRS
    Institut de recherche pour le développement, Research and Development Technology Center for Geological Disaster, Balai Penyelidikan dan Pengembangan Teknologi Kebencanaan Geologi (BPPTKG))

Abstract

A perpetual calendar, a calendar designed to find out the day of the week for a given date, employs a rich arithmetical calculation using congruence. Zeller’s congruence is a well-known algorithm to calculate the day of the week for any Julian or Gregorian calendar date. Another rather infamous perpetual calendar has been used for nearly four centuries among Javanese people in Indonesia. This Javanese calendar combines the Saka Hindu, lunar Islamic, and western Gregorian calendars. In addition to the regular 7-day, lunar month, and lunar year cycles, it also contains 5-day pasaran, 35-day wetonan, 210-day pawukon, octo-year windu, and 120-year kurup cycles. The Javanese calendar is used for cultural and spiritual purposes, including a decision to tie the knot among couples. In this chapter, we will explore the relationship between mathematics and the culture of Javanese people and how they use their calendar and the arithmetic aspect of it in their daily lives. We also propose an unprecedented congruence formula to compute the pasaran day. We hope that this excursion provides an insightful idea that can be adopted for teaching and learning of congruence in number theory.

Suggested Citation

  • Natanael Karjanto & François Beauducel, 2024. "An Ethnoarithmetic Excursion into the Javanese Calendar," Springer Books, in: Bharath Sriraman (ed.), Handbook of the History and Philosophy of Mathematical Practice, pages 1097-1126, Springer.
    • Handle: RePEc:spr:sprchp:978-3-031-40846-5_82
    DOI: 10.1007/978-3-031-40846-5_82
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