The Parquet Game and Combinations: The Double Patrimonalization of an Object and its Mathematical Knowledge

Résumé 0

The purpose of this paper is to report on the creation and the transmission of mathematical knowledge linked to combinations thanks to a specific material object namely diagonally-divided paving stones which are squares diagonally divided into two different colours. The diagonally-divided paving stone is alternately considered as an ornamental piece, a subject for study from the 18th century in Mémoire sur les combinaisons by Father Sébastien Truchet from the French Royal Academy, an educational tool in Édouard Lucas’ Récréations mathématiques in the 19th century or a play object. This all constitutes an original form of patrimonialization of mathematical knowledge based on an object often considered as a simple toy.