História da matemática na formação de professores: sistemas de numeração antigos

This essay aims to present and describe a proposal of insertion of Mathematics History into teachers undergraduation. Such addition proposal is expected to take place as curricular component to be taught on initial undergraduation for mathematics teachers. The selection of contents for the proposal has been based on the national Curriculum Guidelines (DCN, 2001, acronym in portugueses) for bachelor’s degree in Mathematics; the National Curricular Guidelines for Elementary School (PCNEF, 1998, acronym in Portuguese); and the National Curricular Guidelines for High School (PCNEM, 1999, acronym in Portuguese). The curricular component now presented is supposed to take a 60 hour workload, and includes the following topics: History of Ancient Numbering Systems, History of Trigonometriy and History of fuctions. For the sake of exemplification, the topic History of Ancient Numbering Systems is discussed and analysed in detail as practice for the new curricular component.