The third approach to the history of mathematics in China
Abstract
Description
The first approach to the history of mathematics in China led by Li Yan (1892--1963) and Qian Baocong (1892--1974) featured discovering {\it what} mathematics had been done in China's past. From the 1970s on, Wu Wen-tsun and others shifted this research paradigm to one of recovering {\it how} mathematics was done in ancient China. Both approaches, however, focus on the same problem, that is mathematics in history. The theme of the third approach is supposed to be {\it why} mathematics was done. Combining this approach with the former two, the research paradigm will be improved from one of mathematics in history to that of the history of mathematics.