Are there fundamental differences between western mathematics and Essay

Are there fundamental differences between western mathematics and tranditional chinese mathematics - Essay Example Instead back then they utilized alphabets so as to represent numbers. This reflects that mathematical terminologies are in use since the ancient times. However, in the present days rapid development has been witnessed in the field of mathematics. Mathematics originated simultaneously with other human production activities of the older times. The Ancient Chinese call mathematics as one of the six arts and it has been also treated as the preliminary point of philosophy by the Ancient Greeks. After thousands of years of developmental phase, mathematics has undergone various theoretical and practical changes. In the present times it is defined as the branch of science which deals with skillful operations. The rules and concepts of Mathematics are primarily developed for the purpose of conducting dexterous procedures. The basic emphasis of the subject has always been upon the development of new concepts. The concepts of basic mathematics, especially elementary geometry, were designed in order to define the units which are directly used in the real world (Wigner 1960). Chinese civilization is as ancient as Babylonian and Egyptian civilization. Somewhere in 1200 BC, during the times of Shang Dynasty, Chinese used to do mathematical calculations with the help of markings on tortoise shells and animal bones. This reflects that they were more inclined towards the numeric calculations rather than inventing new mathematical concepts. Similarly the ancient Chinese mathematics books have a vast collection of practical problems, giving the problems first and followed by their solutions. In this modern age Chinese still use the same pattern for teaching purposes. However, contrary to the Chinese mechanical algorithm, western mathematics focuses on the proof and derivation so as to develop new concepts in the field of mathematics (Boyer and Merzbach 2011, p. 7). The basic purpose of Chinese mathematics is to utilize the mathematical concepts in