> there is no way to answer whether, say, the medieval Chinese approach
> would have produced more/better results, given the equivalent
> centuries and personnel applied to it.
>
> -- Continuing my fantasy, I imagine that a modern, well-developed
> "Chinese mathematics" would develop in ways quite distinct from our
> own.
Now I'm fantasizing that somehow, someone invents a time-machine,
goes back a few centuries, picks up a few dozen of the best ancient
Chinese mathematicians, and brings them to the modern world. How
would they behave? Would they somehow continue with the medieval
Chinese approach? Or would they assimilate? This is perhaps a
mathematical version of the wider question: Is our Anglicizing
culture truly "universal" and all-assimilating, or is it merely
a successful cultural imperialist? I don't know, and I guess there
is no way to know. But I think the only *objective* measurement
we can have of the "worth" of medieval Chinese mathematics is
through what they actually *did* accomplish; there is no way
to guess what they *might have* accomplished.
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Eric Schechter 615-322-6651 615-662-4442
http://www.math.vanderbilt.edu/~schectex/
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