Heavenly numbers : astronomy and authority in early imperial China /

A history of the development of mathematical astronomy in China, from the late third century BCE, to the early 3rd century CE - a period often referred to as 'early imperial China'. It narrates the changes in ways of understanding the movements of the heavens and the heavenly bodies that t...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Author: Cullen, Christopher (Author)
Format: eBook
Language:English
Published: Oxford : Oxford University Press, 2017.
Edition:First edition.
Subjects:
Online Access:Connect to the full text of this electronic book
Description
Summary:A history of the development of mathematical astronomy in China, from the late third century BCE, to the early 3rd century CE - a period often referred to as 'early imperial China'. It narrates the changes in ways of understanding the movements of the heavens and the heavenly bodies that took place during those four and a half centuries, and tells the stories of the institutions and individuals involved in those changes. It gives clear explanations of technical practice in observation, instrumentation, and calculation, and the steady accumulation of data over many years - but it centres on the activity of the individual human beings who observed the heavens, recorded what they saw, and made calculations to analyse and eventually make predictions about the motions of the celestial bodies.
Physical Description:1 online resource : illustrations (black and white)
Audience:Specialized.
Bibliography:Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN:9780191797705
0191797707
9780191047534
0191047538