Western histories of mathematics
have a habit of emphasising European contributions. For an antidote, have a look
at Christopher Cullen’s Astronomy and Mathematics in Ancient China. It’s a
translation of, and commentary on, the Nine Chapters, which reached final form
around the first century AD. Calendars, Pythagoras and the diagram of the seven
heng… Astonishing. Needham Research Institute Studies 1, published by
Cambridge University Press, £40/$69.95, ISBN 0521550890.
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