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Se podría decir que las matemáticas en Japón comenzaron en el periodo Edo o Tokugawa.
El periodo se extiende desde el año 1603 y 1868 y se caracteriza por una sociedad
jerárquica, el estatus social se definía al nacer, y por un auge económico debido a un largo
periodo de paz entre las provincias japonesa. La población se dividía en cuatro clases:
comerciantes, artesano, campesinos y samurais.
Ahora vamos a hablar de Seki Kowa, que fue un matemático perteneciente al periodo Edo.
Fue muy importante porque creó una nueva notación algebraica y estableció las bases para
el posterior desarrollo del wasan, matemática tradicional japonesa. También hizo un
importante trabajo en el cálculo integral y ecuaciones indeterminadas de números enteros,
que fueron desarrolladas por sus sucesores. Descubrió algunos de los teoremas y teorías
como por ejemplo, el descubrimiento del Número de Bernoulli. También hizo estudios sobre
el cálculo de determinantes de orden superior coincidiendo en el tiempo con Leibniz al
publicar sus resultados. Estos logros son sorprendentes, considerando que la matemática
japonesa antes de la aparición de Seki Kowa estaba en un estado muy primitivo. Sus
sucesores fundaron una escuela de matemáticas llamada la escuela de Seki.
Takebe Kenkō fue un matemático japonés de la corriente del wasan. Fue estudiante de
Seki Takakazu y jugó un rol crítico en el desarrollo del Enri, un rústico análogo del cálculo
occidental. También computó 41 decimales de {pi }.
Yoshida Mitsuyoshi, en 1627 publica el libro de cómputo Jinkōki, el cual contiene
numerosos problemas con una serie de ejercicios mentales, hechos por Mitsuyoshi para
procedimientos matemáticos usados cotidianamente, basados parcialmente en modelos
chinos similares al Sanpō Tōsō. En 1641 introdujo innovaciones como ilustraciones
coloridas, colores diferentes con los números positivos (rojo) y números negativos (negro) y
finalmente “los problemas que podrían ser resueltos”, una colección de doce problemas sin
resolver.
En Japón es habitual enseñar a los niños a multiplicar de una forma muy distinta a las que
estamos acostumbrados. Puede parecer lenta pero, ciertamente, es más intuitiva. El método
se conoce como multiplicación visual con líneas y consiste en dibujar una serie de rectas
separadas entre sí que coinciden con los dígitos de los números a multiplicar. Este método
funciona porque el número de líneas actúan como “marcadores de posición” (en potencias
de 10: 1, 10, 100, etc), y el número de puntos en cada intersección es un producto del
número de líneas.
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One could say that mathematics in Japan began in the Edo or Tokugawa period. The period
extends from the year 1603 and 1868 and is characterized by a hierarchical society, social
status was defined at birth, and by an economic boom due to a long period of peace
between the Japanese provinces. The population was divided into four classes: merchants,
artisan, peasants and samurai.
Now let's talk about Seki Kowa, who was a mathematician belonging to the Edo period. It
was very important because it created a new algebraic notation and established the basis for
the later development of wasan, traditional Japanese mathematics. He also did an important
job in the integral calculus and indeterminate equations of integers, which were developed
by his successors. He discovered some of the theorems and theories such as, for example,
the discovery of Bernoulli's Number. He also made studies on the calculation of higher order
determinants coinciding in time with Leibniz when publishing his results. These
achievements are surprising, considering that Japanese mathematics before the appearance
of Seki Kowa was in a very primitive state. His successors founded a school of mathematics
called the Seki school.
In the part of the inventions we are going to mention the wasan that in the history of
mathematics, denote a genuinely distinguished type of mathematics developed in Japan
during the Tokugawa period, or Edo period. For example, as we mentioned earlier, Kowa
Seki developed some ideas of infinitesimal calculus around the same time as Leibnitz and
Newton, their European counterparts. But at the beginning of the imperial period, between
the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, the country opened to the west and adopted Western
mathematics, which led to a decline in the ideas used in the wasan. On the other hand of
those geometric problems that we mentioned in the previous point, there arises the Soddy
sextet that is a chain of six spheres, each of which is tangent to its two neighboring spheres
and also to three given spheres, mutually tangent to each other . According to the theorem
published by Frederick Soddy it is always possible to find a sextet for any set of tangent
spheres A, B and C. In fact, there is an infinite family of sextets related by rotation and
scaling of the sextet spheres.
Mōri Shigeyoshi was a Japanese mathematician of the early Edo period. In his early years
he studied arithmetic in China. After his return to Japan he started a school and wrote
several math books that influenced a lot. They mainly dealt with arithmetic and the use of
soroban, the Japanese abacus. One of his students was Yoshida Mitsuyoshi which we will
discuss next.
Takebe Kenkō was a Japanese mathematician of the wasan stream. He was a student of
Seki Takakazu and played a critical role in the development of Enri, a rustic analog of
Western calculation. He also computed 41 decimals from {pi}.
Yoshida Mitsuyoshi, in 1627 published the computer book Jinkōki, which contains numerous
problems with a series of mental exercises, made by Mitsuyoshi for mathematical
procedures used daily, based partly on Chinese models similar to Sanpō Tōsō. In 1641 he
introduced innovations such as colorful illustrations, different colors with positive numbers
(red) and negative numbers (black) and finally "problems that could be solved", a collection
of twelve unresolved problems.
In writing, Japanese numbers are based entirely on Chinese numbers and the grouping of a
large number follows the cultural tradition of China which is to group by 10,000. In Japanese
there are two ways of naming the numbers, one based on on'yomi and the other based on
kun'yomi. But you will see it more clearly with an image that we will show you next.
In Japan it is usual to teach children to multiply in a very different way than we are used to. It
may seem slow but, certainly, it is more intuitive. The method is known as visual
multiplication with lines and consists in drawing a series of lines separated from each other
that coincide with the digits of the numbers to be multiplied. This method works because the
number of lines act as "placeholders" (in powers of 10: 1, 10, 100, etc), and the number of
points in each intersection is a product of the number of lines.