Japanese mathematics

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In the history of mathematics, Japanese mathematics or wasan (Japanese: 和算), denotes a genuinely distinct kind of mathematics developed in Japan during the Edo Period (1603-1867) when the country was isolated from European influences. For instance, Kowa Seki found calculus at a similar time to his European counterparts. At the beginning of the Meiji era (1868-1912) the country opened up to the West and adopted Western mathematics which led to a decline of the ideas used in the wasan.

Its achievements included some very refined results in integral calculus.^{[citation needed]}

[edit] Important wasan mathematicians

Kambei Mori - developed arithmetical methods for the soroban (Japanese abacus)
Yoshida Koyu (1598-1672)
Seki Kowa (1642-1708) - circle principle (enri) which represents a crude form of integral calculus
Takebe Kenko (1664-1739)
Matsunaga Ryohitsu (fl. 1718-1749)
Kurushima Yoshita (d. 1757)
Arima Raido (1714-1783)
Ajima Chokuyen (1739-1783)
Aida Ammei (1747-1817)
Sakabe Kohan (1759-1824)
Hasegawa Ken (c. 1783-1838)
Wada Nei (1787-1840)
Shiraishi Chochu (1796-1862)
Koide Shuki (1797-1865)
Omura Isshu (1824-1871)

[edit] References

Endo, Tadashi. History of Japanese Mathematics.
Fukagawa, Hidetoshi, and D. Pedoe. Japanese temple geometry problems = Sangaku. Charles Babbage Research Centre, Winnipeg, 1989.
Horiuchi, Annick. Les Mathematiques Japonaises a L'Epoque d'Edo (1600-1868): Une Etude des Travaux de Seki Takakazu (?-1708) et de Takebe Katahiro (1664-1739). J. Vrin, 1994. ISBN 978-2-7116-1213-0.
Kobayashi, Tatsuhiko. (2002) "What kind of mathematics and terminology was transmitted into 18th-century Japan from China?", Historia Scientiarum, Vol.12, No.1.
Kobayashi, Tatsuhiko. Trigonometry and Its Acceptance in the 18th-19th Centuries Japan.
Morimoto, Mitsuo. "Infinite series in Japanese Mathematics of the 18th Century".
Morimoto, Mitsuo. "A Chinese Root of Japanese Traditional Mathematics – Wasan"
Ogawa, Tsukane. "A Review of the History of Japanese Mathematics". Revue d'histoire des mathématiques 7, fascicule 1 (2001), 137-155.
Smith, David E., and Yoshio Mikami. A History of Japanese Mathematics. Dover. ISBN 0-486-43482-6.
Fukagawa, Hidetoshi and Tony Rothman. (2008). Sacred Mathematics: Japanese Temple Geometry. Princeton: Princeton University Press. ISBN 978-0-691-12745-3.

[edit] See also

Idai, the custom of adding very hard problems at the end of wasan books
Sangaku, the custom of presenting mathematical problems, carved in wood tablets, to the public in shinto shrines
Soroban, a Japanese abacus
Enri (a Japanese analogon to the western calculus)