Mathematics of Southeastern Asia

Summary: Mathematics in the region has long been intertwined with religion and astrology and in recent generations has been impacted by colonialism.

The United Nations classification of southeastern Asia includes Brunei Darussalam, Cambodia, Indonesia, Lao People’s Democratic Republic, Malaysia, Myanmar, Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, Timor-Leste, and Vietnam. Throughout history, the countries of Asia have had shifting political and social boundaries, and the names of many countries have changed over time, especially from the European colonial eras of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries—when Western historians often began to study and document these countries—into the twenty-first century. For example, Burma became known as Myanmar; Siam became Thailand; Malay or Malaya became Malaysia; the Dutch East Indies or Netherlands East Indies and Java became Indonesia; and French Indochina included Laos, Cambodia, and Vietnam. Singapore was also part of Malaysia for a brief time in the 1960s, and the two regions share many historical developments. China and India, which have long histories of mathematics work and achievement, also had an influence in this region of the world. Therefore, mathematics contributions of some people from southeastern Asia, may be included within the histories of other regions or countries.

Early History

The great architectural feats found in places such as Borobudur, built in the ninth century on the island of Java, now part of Indonesia, and Angkor Wat, constructed three centuries later in Cambodia, suggest to scholars and historians that the architects and the builders must have had considerable mathematics knowledge. Some mathematics was probably brought to the region from India and China, as also happened in Europe and other areas, but there were almost certainly local mathematicians as well. The geometry involved in the design of both Borobudur and Angkor Wat has amazed generations of scholars who have discovered many complex ratios and formulas in the designs. Historians have also discussed the interconnection between religion, astronomy, mathematics, and astrology in southeastern Asia. Often there was little distinction made between mundane and divine matters, and some sequences of numbers (for example, 4, 8, 16, and 32) had religions connotations.

These numbers were used in both government and spiritual matters, such as the number of chiefs and territories in some Malay courts. Numerical systems emerged for the Burmese, Siamese, Cambodian, Laotian, Vietnamese, and Javanese languages. When Europeans began to explore and colonize southeastern Asia, they brought with them their own formal methods of school structure and mathematics teaching, which were documented by historians. Colonial influence saw the Vietnamese language develop a Romanized script, along with Western systems of counting, but the other scripts kept their systems of numerals. The introduction to southeastern Asia of a European-style school education, which replaced previous systems of instruction at pagodas or mosques, was a contributing factor in mathematics education. Much of this education came from the commercial needs of colonial powers to educate boys for work as bookkeepers and businessmen, so Western accounting systems were introduced to these populations—though many merchants continued to use Chinese systems, including the abacus, up through the twenty-first century.

Singapore and Malaysia

Singapore and Malaysia have active mathematics programs. The Raffles Institution in Singapore has a mathematics club whose members compete in events like the Singapore Mathematical Olympiad. The school was established in 1823 and named for (Thomas) Stamford Raffles, who is known as the founder of the British colony in Singapore. The Singapore Mathematical Society was founded in 1952. In the twenty-first century, it organizes participation in events like the national and international mathematics olympiads and the Singapore Mathematics Project Festival, among other educational and professional activities. Singapore first participated in the International Mathematical Olympiad (IMO) in 1988. While many twentieth-century textbooks on mathematics were imported into Singapore, the “Singapore Math Method,” first developed in the 1980s and used in the national curriculum in Singapore, is now used in several places in the United States and elsewhere.

One of Singapore’s well-known mathematicians is Tony Tan, who completed his doctorate, with a dissertation on “Mathematical models for commuter traffic in cities,” at the University of Adelaide, South Australia. He taught mathematics before going into banking, and then into politics, ultimately becoming his country’s deputy prime minister. Raffles College in Singapore taught mathematics from the time it started operations in 1928. Relations between Singapore and Malaysia in the twentieth century led to its transformation into the University of Malaya, then the University of Singapore, and the National University of Singapore. Sir Alexander Oppenheim, the vice-chancellor of the University of Malaya 1957–1965, was a prominent mathematician who had taught at Raffles College.

The Malaysian Mathematical Sciences Society, founded in 1970, was formerly known as the Malaysian Mathematical Society. It hosts events like the National Mathematical Olympiad in Malaysia; Malaysia first participated in the IMO in 1995. The Penang Free School, established in Malaysia in 1816, has taught mathematics from its inception. The Institute of Mathematical Sciences at the University of Malaya, founded in 1959 as the Department of Mathematics, continues to provide education for many Malaysian and overseas students and is an important mathematical institute in that country.

Thailand

Historically, Thailand was the only country in southeastern Asia never to be colonized by a foreign nation. Rulers such as the nineteenth-century King Mongkut, the inspiration for the 1946 movie Anna and the King of Siam and often called “the father of science and technology,” embraced Western innovations. Assumption College, Bangkok, founded in 1885, had an extensive program of mathematics. The Mathematical Association of Thailand publishes the Thai Journal of Mathematics and hosts conferences and contests. Thailand has been participating in the IMO since 1989.The Center for Promotion of Mathematical Research of Thailand was established in 1978. Mathematician Yupaporn Kemprasit is an acknowledged world expert on algebraic semigroup theory, ring theory, and algebraic hyperstructure theory.

Cambodia, Laos, and Vietnam

In French Indochina, mathematics was encouraged for commerce. The Quoc Hoc or National Academy, established in 1896, included mathematics in its curriculum, with French as the language of instruction. Until the 1950s, most secondary schools in this region used French and French-language mathematics books—this was done in Cambodia until the early 1970s. Growth in the education system in the late twentieth century produced new native mathematics teachers, including Cambodian Communists Saloth Sar (Pol Pot), Khieu Samphan, and Gaing Kek Ieu (called “Comrade Deuch”).

The Vietnamese Mathematical Society was founded in 1965, roughly the same time as one major build-up of American troops during the Vietnam conflict. Many educational institutions were closed for many years because of the war, but the society continued to support regional mathematical research. Vietnam first participated in the IMO in 1974 and hosted the competition in 2007. Mathematics researchers and students from Lao People’s Democratic Republic (Laos) also participate in conferences and competitions. For example, in 2010, two high school students won a mathematics prize in a competition that included students from Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore, Vietnam, Thailand, and Laos.

Indonesia

The Dutch in the Netherlands East Indies operated a system of European schools, so-called “native schools,” and vocational schools, teaching primarily in Dutch with Dutch-language textbooks. Many of the applied mathematics courses were directed toward engineering. After independence, with the expansion of the education system in Indonesia, there are mathematics departments in all schools and most universities in the country. Indonesia first participated in the IMO in 1988.

Brunei, Myanmar, and the Philippines

Elsewhere in the region there is also mathematical activity. The study of mathematics in the Philippines has been influenced by its close connections with the United States. The Mathematics Society of the Philippines was established in 1973, and the Philippines began participating in the IMO in 1988. Brunei participated in the IMO in 2000. The country of Myanmar has been isolated for much of the period since its independence in 1948. At the start of the twenty-first century, it initiated a 30-year plan for educational reform to address the challenges of the information age. Traditionally, state schools focused on writing, reading, and speaking in Myanmar and English, as well as mathematics, science, and Myanmar geography and history. Newer programs offer increased access to computer skills, as well as courses on information technology, medicine, and engineering, which require more advanced mathematics skills.

Bibliography

Hong, Kho Tek, Yeo Shu Mei, and James Lim. The Singapore Model Method for Learning Mathematics. Singapore: EPB Panpac Education, 2009.

Southeast Asian Mathematical Society. http://www.seams-math.org.

Southeast Asian Ministers of Education Organization-Regional Centre for Education in Science and Mathematics. http://www.recsam.edu.my/html/history.html.