Adapting a math book to the arab world region: Benefits on the learning process

An instructor in the Arab world teaching a math course is used to the unfortunate situation where he wants to follow a well-known book whose reputation is long established and yet, all books he can find have been written in the western world, and none of them even allude to any of the specificities of the Arab world. The situation can even sometimes be squarely awkward in respected institutions rooted in traditional societies of the Arab world, where a professor enjoy an esteemed social status and is expected to have wisdom, but yet finds himself teaching some concepts and examples –although well written and sometimes mathematically critically important– which deal with irrelevant topics, such as income tax in countries where there are none, or frankly embarrassing ones, when gambling, alcohol consumption or others are at the forefront. Both students and educators ask themselves: can’t there be more relevant examples for this part of world? Can’t we use a book that takes into considerations, illustrates and values the society we are from? The idea of making an Arab World Edition for a textbook stems from that preoccupation. Indeed, we believe that such initiative is long overdue. The purpose of this paper is to highlight the benefits of the adaptation of a textbook to the world where a student lives and how a Math textbook can be adapted to the Arab world region. The Arab World version of the 13th edition of Haeussler, Paul and Wood’s textbook “Introductory Mathematical Analysis for Business, Economics, and the Life and Social Sciences” by haeussler will be used for this purpose.