Japanese mathematics in the Edo period (1600--1868). A study of the works of Seki Takakazu (?--1708) and of Takebe Katahiro (1664--1739). Translated from the French 1994 original by Silke Wimmer-Zagier (Q2468814)

The present volume is a very careful English translation of a book which has been first published in French in 1994. Although its first edition was already unique when it was published, this new one clearly outpasses it: far from being a mere translation, it is on the contrary a substantial reworking of an initial work clarifying, emendating and explaining anew in a convincing way a large number of points. Not less interestingly, beautiful reproductions of original works which were absent in the former edition have now been included into the text so that readers will also get from these a visual apprehension of what Japanese mathematical texts physically looked like during the Edo period. Anyone interested in Japanese mathematics and its multifarious aspects (famous mathematicians such as Seki Takakazu and Takebe Katahiro, mathematical schools, mathematical subjects considered interesting by Japanese mathematicians \dots) should first have recourse to this outstanding book inasmuch as its excellent critical apparatus opens wide perspectives for future researches in such a domain.