Annick Horiuchi, Japanese Mathematics in the Edo Period (1600-1868), Basel: Birkhäuser 2010, xxvii 376 pp. Translated by Silke Wimmer-Zagier from the French original Les Mathématiques japonaises a l'époque d'Edo 1600-1868, Paris: Libraire Philosophique J. Vrin, 1994.
2014
Abstrakt
Review of the English translation of a history of Japanese mathematics. The review notes the main points of the book, especially the focus on Seki Takakazu and Takebe Katahiro, the relationship between their work and the Chinese mathematical tradition as imported to Japan in the sixteenth century, and the culture of problem solving lying behind the spectacular development of Japanese mathematics in this period.
The review also notes some limitations of the reivewed work, especially its narrow focus.
