Astronomy and calendars : the other chinese mathematics, 104 BC - AD 1644 / Jen-Claude Martzloff.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Martzloff, Jean-Claude.

Standardized Title:

Calendrier chinois. English

Language:

English

French

Subjects (All):

Calendar, Chinese--History.

Calendar, Chinese.

History.

Genre:

History.

Physical Description:

xxxv, 471 pages : charts ; 25 cm

Place of Publication:

Berlin : Springer, [2016]

Summary:

"Presented from the viewpoint of the history of mathematics, this book explores both epistemological aspects of Chinese traditional mathematical astronomy and lunisolar calendrical calculations. The following issues are addressed: (1) connections with non-Chinese cultural areas; (2) the possibility or impossibility of using mathematics to predict astronomical phenomena, a question that was constantly raised by the Chinese from antiquity through medieval times; (3) the modes of representation of numbers, and in particular the zero, found in the context of Chinese calendrical calculations; and (4) a detailed analysis of lunisolar calendrical calculations. Fully worked-out examples and comparisons between the results of calculations and the content of Chinese historical calendars from various periods are provided... The present English language edition is a fully revised and updated version of the French original. Even though this is a research monograph in sinology, no particular sinological background is required, although a basic understanding of 'concrete mathematics' is needed."--Publisher's description.

Contents:

Chinese astronomical canons and calendars. Preliminary observations ; Description of the Chinese calendar

Calculations. Numbers and calculations ; Mean elements ; True elements (618)-1280) ; Later astronomical canons ; Mo and mie days

Examples of calculations. The quarter-remainder canon ; The luminous inception canon ; The manifest enlightenment canon ; The great unification canon ; Mo and mie days

Afterthoughts

Appendices.

Notes:

Originally published: Le calendrier chinois : structure et calculs, 104 av. J.C. - 1644 (Honoré Champion, 2009).

Includes bibliographical references and indexes.

ISBN:

9783662497173

3662497174

OCLC:

940933407