(March 1642 – December 5, 1708)
This reposeful preteen prodigy is Japan’s greatest mathematician. He was as well the preeminent science icon during the Tokugawa shogunate (the last era of feudal military governance of Japan: lasting from 1603 to 1868). Some Western publications tagged him “Japan’s Isaac Newton”. Several of these books and journals designate his name as either “Seki Kowa” or “Seki Takakazu”, whereas others simply use “Seki Kowa Takakazu”. As samurai scion, he never failed to wrap his prodigious disposition with courtesy and self-effacement. He singlehandedly reinvented the Wasan, which is traditional Japanese mathematics: so named, in order to distinguish it from the Western-styled maths (which the Japanese refer to as Yosan). He is also credited with developing the Enri, which was Japan’s equivalent of calculus (prior to European ascendancy). It is intriguing that Seki Kowa Takakazu lived in the same period as Isaac Newton, Gottfried Leibniz, and the Bernoullis: far away from Europe; yet, worked independently on related problems and discovered similar parameters. His interest in mathematical astronomy saw him contribute to the developments of trigonometry, geometry and algebra. Among his many publications is the highly regarded Hatsubi Sampo, which offered solutions with stringent proofs to various maths problems. In addition to that, he amassed Chinese and Japanese textbooks with which he educated students (like Takebe Kenko) in maths and astronomy. Takakazu is highly revered in today’s Japan; and through his magnificent works remains influential in many parts of the world. Alongside various commemoratives, the 18-kilometer-wide 7483 Sekitakakazu asteroid is named in his honor.
I love how you wrote these articles.
I came to your 83. SEKI KOWA TAKAKAZU – SAPAVIVA page. Nice.
I enjoyed learning about SEKI KOWA TAKAKAZU @ SAPAVIVA website. Thanks for the eye-opening info. Never heard about him until today.
Today is also my first time of hearing about Seki Kowa Takakazu and I am impressed.
Very good info.
Awesome website! Getting to know these scientists and mathematicians is amazing.
Amazing!
He was in many ways the Asian Newton.
Awesome!
Splendid!
It’s great to see this Japaneses icon. He is often underrated, so I’m glad to see him here.
Good job Sapaviva!
What’s up friends? How is everything? Who is your favorite scientist?
I agree with the other commentators. This is also an eye-opener for me.
I’ve enjoyed your blog posts and will be subscribing to your rss feed
Excellent post
Thanks, yours is the best blog I have found so far on this topic.
Agreed!
Extraordinary!
I bookmarked this post to my FB faves.
Superb content
wow! what a guy!
The coincidences between Takakazu’s research topics and that of European scientists of the same period got me thinking.
Really interesting!
Well-deserved! 🙂
What a coincidence. Goes to show that this world is truly a small place.
His, was a mind-blowing coincidence.
Nice and new stuffs on this website.
Well, well, well, well.
A good surprise to remember Takakazu here