Legacy of the Luoshu

Frank J. Swetz, Professor Emeritus at the Pennsylvania State University, is one of America's best known mathematics educators. His interest in how society promotes mathematical knowledge led him to try to understand the cultural history of mathematics. He is co-founding editor of Convergence, an e-journal devoted to the History of Mathematics and its Teaching. He has authored over 300 articles and 20 books, including Was Pythagoras Chinese? An Examination of Right Triangle Theory in Ancient China (1977) and Capitalism and Arithmetic: The New Math of the Fifteenth Century (1987). He edited From Five Fingers to Infinity: A Journey through the History of Mathematics (1994).

Acknowledgments, Prologue, 1. THE JOURNEY BEGINS, 2. ON THE BANKS OF THE LUO RIVER: THE CHINESE ORIGINS OF THE LUOSHU, 3. YINYANG, WUXING, AND KEY NUMBERS IN THE LUOSHU, 4. THE LUOSHU IN COSMIC RITUAL, FORTUNE-TELLING, AND FENGSHUI, 5. CHINESE VARIATIONS ON THE LUOSHU THEME, 6. THE MAGIC SQUARE OF ORDER THREE IN OTHER CULTURES, 7. LUOSHU MISCELLANEA, 8. SOME FINAL THOUGHTS, Epilogue, Notes, Bibliography, Illustration Acknowledgments