Mathematics Across Cultures The History of Non-Western Mathemati
Mathematics Across Cultures: A History of Non-Western Mathematics consists of essays dealing with the mathematical knowledge and beliefs of cultures outside the United States and Europe. In addition to articles surveying Islamic, Chinese, Native American,
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SCIENCE ACROSS CULTURES: THE HISTORY OF NON-WESTERN SCIENCE VOLUME 2 M A T H E M A T I C S ACROSS C U L T U R E S
Editor: HELAINE SELIN, Hampshire College, Amherst, Massachusetts, USA
MATHEMATICS ACROSS CULTURES The History of Non-Western Mathematics
Editor
HELAINE SELIN Hampshire College, Amherst, Massachusetts, USA
Advisory Editor UBIRATAN D'AMBROSIO State University of Campinas/I)NICAMP,
Säo Paulo, Brazil (Emeritus)
SPRINGER SCIENCE+BUSINESS MEDIA, B.V.
A catalogue record for this book is available from the Library of Congress.
ISBN 978-1-4020-0260-1 I S B N 978-94-011-4301-1 (eBook) DOI 10.1007/978-94-011-4301-1
Printed on acid-free paper
02-0503-150 ts
A l l Rights Reserved © 2000 Springer Science+Business Media Dordrecht Originally published by Kluwer Academic Publishers in 2000 Softcover reprint of the hardcover 1st edition 2000 No part of the material protected by this copyright may be reproduced or utilized in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, including photocopying, recording or by any information storage and retrieval system, without written permission from the copyright owners.
INTRODUCTION TO THE SERIES: SCIENCE ACROSS CULTURES: THE HISTORY OF NON-WESTERN SCIENCE
In 1997, Kluwer Academic Publishers published the Encyclopaedia of the History of Science, Technology, and Medicine in Non-Western Cultures. The encyclopedia, a collection of almost 600 articles by almost 300 contributors, covered a range of topics from Aztec science and Chinese medicine to Tibetan astronomy and Indian ethnobotany. For some cultures, specific individuals could be identified, and their biographies were included. Since the study of non-Western science is not just a study of facts, but a study of culture and philosophy, we included essays on subjects such as Colonialism and Science, Magic and Science, the Transmission of Knowledge from East to West, Technology and Culture, Science as a Western Phenomenon, Values and Science, and Rationality, Objectivity, and Method. Because the encyclopedia was received with critical acclaim, and because the nature of an encyclopedia is such that articles must be concise and compact, the editors at Kluwer and I felt that there was a need to expand on its success. We thought that the breadth of the encyclopedia could be complemented by a series of books that explored the topics in greater depth. We had an opportunity, without such space limitations, to include more illustrations and much longer bibliographies. We shifted the focus from the general educated audience that the encyclopedia targeted to a more scholarly one, although we have been careful to keep the articles readable and keep jargon to a minimum. Before we can talk about the field of non-Western science, we have to define both non-Western and science. The term non-Western is not a geographical designation; it is a cultural one. We use it to describe people outside of the Euro-American sphere, including the native cultures of the Americas. The power of European and American colonialism is evident in the
