Editing Japanese mathematics (section)

{{Short description|Independent development of mathematics in Japan during the isolation of the Edo period}}
{{nihongo|'''Japanese mathematics'''|和算|wasan}} denotes a distinct kind of mathematics which was developed in [[Japan]] during the [[Edo period]] (1603–1867).  The term ''wasan'', from ''wa'' ("Japanese") and ''san'' ("calculation"), was coined in the 1870s<ref>[[Helaine Selin|Selin, Helaine]]. (1997). {{Google books|raKRY3KQspsC&dq|''Encyclopaedia of the History of Science, Technology, and Medicine in Non-Western Cultures'', p. 641. |page=641}}</ref> and employed to distinguish native Japanese mathematical theory from Western mathematics (洋算 ''yōsan'').<ref>Smith, David ''et al.'' (1914). {{Google books|J1YNAAAAYAAJ|''A History of Japanese Mathematics'', p. 1 n2.|page=1}}</ref>

In the [[history of mathematics]], the development of ''wasan'' falls outside the Western realm. At the beginning of the [[Meiji period]] (1868–1912), Japan and its people opened themselves to the West. Japanese scholars adopted Western mathematical technique, and this led to a decline of interest in the ideas used in ''wasan''.