Mathematics Education in Oriental Antiquity and Middle Ages

Mathematics Education in East and Southeast Asia Alexei Volkov This section focuses on the history of mathematics education in China, Taiwan, Korea, and Vietnam, as well as in the political entities located entirely or partly within the modern boundaries of these countries. The time scope ranges from the first millennium BCE to the mid-second millennium CE, and the topics discussed include the curricula of governmental educational institutions, teaching methodology, mathematics textbooks, and state examinations. Mathematics Education in India Agathe Keller Very little is known of the context in which much of ancient India’s scholarly knowledge burgeoned. Part of this ignorance springs precisely from the fact that very little is known about elementary, higher, or specialized education in ancient and medieval India. For ancient and medieval mathematics in the Indian subcontinent, most of the studied textual sources are in Sanskrit, a Brahmanical language that became the scholarly language of an educated cosmopolitan elite. Three historical periods relevant to the history of mathematics in India are studied – Vedic period (ca. 2500 BCE–500 BCE), Classical and Medieval period (−500 BCE–twelfth century), and Premodern period (thirteenth–eighteenth centuries) – in which oral transmissions and written practice, as well as texts of elementary, vocational, or specialized mathematics, are examined for what they reveal about an educational setting.