Date on Honors Thesis
5-2022
Major
Mathematics / Applied Math
Examining Committee Member
Dr. Elizabeth A. Donovan, Advisor
Examining Committee Member
Dr. Robert Donnelly, Committee Member
Examining Committee Member
Dr. Mary Williams, Committee Member
Abstract/Description
When the country of Japan was closed from the rest of the world from 1603 until
1867 during the Edo period, the field of mathematics developed in a different way
from how it developed in the rest of the world. One way we see this development
is through the sangaku, the thousands of geometric problems hung in various Shinto and Buddhist temples throughout the country. Written on wooden tablets by people from numerous walks of life, all these problems hold true within Euclidean geometry. During the 1800s, while Japan was still closed, non-Euclidean geometries began to develop across the globe, so the isolated nation was entirely unaware of these new systems. Thus, we will explore the sangaku in two of the other well-known systems, namely the neutral and hyperbolic geometric systems. Specifically, we will highlight how these traditionally-solved problems change under the varying definitions of line parallelism.
Recommended Citation
Hartmann, Nathan, "Sangaku in Multiple Geometries: Examining Japanese Temple Geometry Beyond Euclid" (2022). Honors College Theses. 118.
https://digitalcommons.murraystate.edu/honorstheses/118