Go Spotting: Hikaru no Go in Symmetry Plus
Julian Erville | Published on 6/16/2015
Symmetry Plus, a magazine for young mathematicians in the UK, published an article about Hikaru no Go and math in its latest issue. Calin Galeriu, a professor at Becker College, writes that go is a “board game with an incredible amount of mathematical content.” Young people reading Hikaru learn about area, the coordinate plane, deductive and inductive reasoning, and more. The problem solving techniques Hikaru and his friends use for go problems are similar to those used when solving mathematical problems.
But the manga does even more than introduce mathematical concepts, Galeriu argues. Hikaru no Go promotes a “message of hard work and dedication” that applies to more than learning go. It teaches kids about the values of staying calm, of using intuition, of perseverance, and of working together. Hikaru no Go is an introduction to go and mathematics, but it also “offers our youngsters an authentic learning philosophy” that lasts for life. Galeriu’s article can be read in full here. - report by Julian Erville. Image from Hikaru no Go © 1998 by Hotta Yumi, Takeshi Obata/Shueisha Inc.