A History of Japanese Mathematics

Wasan, the word for Japanese mathematics, was not coined until it confronted the mathematics of the west, the yoson of Dutch traders and Jesuit missionaries. In this unabridged reprint of the 1914 edition, the authors examine the yenri, or Japanese circle principal of calculus, sangi, a collection of rods used in higher mathematics, and the social mores that relegated the soroban, or abacus, to the business class. They examine the work of notable Japanese mathematicians, including Seki, Aji...