Begin Japanology

tv show

poster for Begin Japanology

251 total episodes

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7 seasons

First Aired April 14, 2008

Overview

BEGIN Japanology invites you into the world of Japanese culture, both traditional and modern, explaining how traditions evolved and the part they still play today in people's everyday lives.

Traditional Japanese Mathematics poster unavailable

Traditional Japanese Mathematics

Season 4 - Episode 28 - 0h 28m

Air Date

September 01, 2011

Overview

Imagine that you have two equally-sized square sheets of paper. How would you cut each sheet of paper so that the pieces could be combined to make one larger square? This problem comes from Japan's indigenous mathematics tradition, wasan. In the 17th century and beyond, wasan enjoyed great and widespread popularity. Tablets with math problems written on them can be found in some Shinto shrines and Buddhist temples. Japanese mathematical genius Seki Takakazu raised wasan to perhaps its highest level. He revealed an understanding of mathematics that, in some respects, was ahead of Western knowledge of the time. In the late 19th century, wasan was replaced by Western-style mathematics and fell into obscurity, but now wasan is enjoying a revival. On this edition of BEGIN Japanology, our theme is traditional Japanese mathematics. By examining the history of wasan, we will reveal the Japanese attitude towards math.