The book is made up of two mutually explanatory parts, the first devoted to the general, historical and cultural background, and the second to the development of each subdiscipline that together comprise Chinese mathematics. This section is organised topically rather than chronologically, and is enriched in each case by examples, guides on how to intepret the contextual setting and by exhaustive references - both mathematical and sinological. This makes the book uniquely accessible, both as a topical reference work, and also as an overview that can be read and reread at many levels of sophistication by both sinologists and mathematicians alike. Indeed anyone with an interest in Chinese culture or the history of ideas will derive great benefit from this book.
