A History of Japanese Mathematics

Abstract

NOW that Europeans are becoming acquainted with the history of mathematics in Japan, it is possible for them to form a kind of general opinion about the work of Japanese mathematicians. Unless future research bring to light works of a calibre superior to those now known, we must acquiesce in the conclusions stated in the terminal pages of the present work. Briefly, they are that Japan has not originated any great and far-reaching theory, such as the infinitesimal calculus, or function-theory, or group-theory; while on the other hand, native methods of great ingenuity, applied to particular problems, did lead to equivalents for such things as Horner's method in solving equations, the general rule for computing a determinant, and a large number of waysof calculating π, some including the use of infinite series.

A History of Japanese Mathematics.

By D. E. Smith Yoshio Mikami. Pp. vii + 288. (Chicago and London: The Open Court Publishing Co., 1914.) Price 12s. net.