China

Bréard A (2013)

Publication Type: Book chapter / Article in edited volumes

Publication year: 2013

Publisher: Oxford University Press

Edited Volumes: Combinatorics: Ancient and Modern

Pages Range: 65-82

ISBN: 9780199656592

DOI: 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199656592.003.0003

Abstract

Combinatorial practices in China go back to high antiquity, when divinatory techniques relied on configurations of broken and unbroken lines. The Yijing or I Ching (Book of Change), compiled under the Zhou dynasty, has transmitted these practices up to the present time and has been a widely commented upon and read source. But combinatorial practices in China were not limited to divination and magic squares: a large number of early sources also described games such as Go and chess, and games with cards, dominoes, and dice, that show a combinatorial interest from a more mathematical point of view. The earliest source that systematically discusses permutations and combinations is an 18th-century manuscript. Although mathematics had by then been introduced from Europe, the manuscript is clearly based on traditional mathematical concepts and algorithmic modes. This chapter shows how early combinatorial practices provided a framework for later mathematical developments in imperial China.

Authors with CRIS profile

Andrea Bréard

Additional Organisation(s)

Chair for Sinology with a focus on the Intellectual and Cultural History of China (Alexander von Humboldt-Professor)

Involved external institutions

LILLE 1 University - Science and Technology FR France (FR)

How to cite

APA:

Bréard, A. (2013). China. In Robin Wilson, John J. Watkins (Eds.), Combinatorics: Ancient and Modern. (pp. 65-82). Oxford University Press.

MLA:

Bréard, Andrea. "China." Combinatorics: Ancient and Modern. Ed. Robin Wilson, John J. Watkins, Oxford University Press, 2013. 65-82.

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