Abstract

The common historiography of mathematical symbolism holds that it is a “European invention.” My first aim will be to understand the contexts in which this view took shape and also to identify contexts in which it was appropriated, examining the arguments put forward in both types of contexts. The view that mathematical symbolism is a “European invention” has been disputed on the basis of Arabic, Sanskrit and Chinese sources. These challenges to mainstream historiography, however, tacitly accept the common understanding of what constitutes mathematical symbolism. In this talk, I question how mathematical symbolism is commonly understood and argue that we need to revise this conception. This revision should allow us to establish that mathematical symbolism has a history much longer and more global history than has been thought