This Handbook explores the history of mathematics under a series of
themes which raise new questions about what mathematics has been
and what it has meant to practice it. It addresses questions of who
creates mathematics, who uses it, and how. A broader understanding
of mathematical practitioners naturally leads to a new appreciation
of what counts as a historical source. Material and oral evidence
is drawn upon as well as an unusual array of textual sources.
Further, the ways in which people have chosen to express themselves
are as historically meaningful as the contents of the mathematics
they have produced. Mathematics is not a fixed and unchanging
entity. New questions, contexts, and applications all influence
what counts as productive ways of thinking. Because the history of
mathematics should interact constructively with other ways of
studying the past, the contributors to this book come from a
diverse range of intellectual backgrounds in anthropology,
archaeology, art history, philosophy, and literature, as well as
history of mathematics more traditionally understood.
The thirty-six self-contained, multifaceted chapters, each written
by a specialist, are arranged under three main headings:
'Geographies and Cultures', 'Peoples and Practices', and
'Interactions and Interpretations'. Together they deal with the
mathematics of 5000 years, but without privileging the past three
centuries, and an impressive range of periods and places with many
points of cross-reference between chapters. The key mathematical
cultures of North America, Europe, the Middle East, India, and
China are all represented here as well as areas which are not often
treated in mainstream history of mathematics, such as Russia, the
Balkans, Vietnam, and South America. This Handbook will be a vital
reference for graduates and researchers in mathematics, historians
of science, and general historians.
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