http://www.loc.gov/mods/v3 http://www.loc.gov/standards/mods/v3/mods-3-2.xsd
numbers and measures in early modern South India
1 online resource : illustrations (black and white, and colour).
This title studies the regional tradition of mathematics in the Tamil-speaking areas of Southern India. It questions the established nature of Indian history of mathematics, which is based only on the Bhatta-Bhaskara tradition. Instead, it brings in practitioners like village accountants and school teachers as primary agents in the practice of mathematics. The author studies these hitherto unexplored historical sources and presents them in a new light. He talks about mathematics at the workplace, at the school, and at the village square in precolonial Tamil society. Finally, the author studies what happened to these practices when encountered by the colonial revenue administration and brings out a social history of mathematics in India.
Introduction : "Fifteen Brahmins and Fifteen Thieves" -- Towards practice : mathematics beyond the canon -- Mathematics of the practitioner -- Memory and mathematics in Tiṇṇai schools -- Mathematics pedagogy for a public : the colonial transition -- Conclusion : mathematics and its images of the public -- Appendix-I : numbers, weights, and measures in the Tamil system -- Appendix-II : a brief note on Tamil numerical notation -- Appendix-III : Ponnilakkam, Nellilkkam, Eṇcuvaṭi -- Appendix-IV : list of text books used for the study.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
New Delhi : Oxford University Press, [2022]