The Edo-period pursuit of wasan, Japan’s domestic tradition of tackling mathematical problems, was one involving samurai and commoners, young and old alike. Historical records reveal that women and ...

During the Edo period (1603–1868), as Japan walked a path distinct from most of the rest of the world, it forged an adventurous new path in mathematical teaching and thinking. The wasan tradition, ...

There weren’t calculators or computers in medieval Europe. But there were math duels. Mathematicians would gather in public squares and pose tricky math problems to each other. Then they raced to ...