The origin of the Bernoulli numbers: mathematics in Basel and Edo in the early eighteenth century (Q2094400)

It turns out that Bernoulli numbers (named after the Swiss mathematician Jacob Bernoulli, the author of \textit{Ars conjectandi} -- 1713) appeared one year prior to Bernoulli's book in the Japanese capital, Edo (today Tokyo), in a posthumous publication, by Takakazu Seki. In the paper under review, the parallel development of mathematics in Basel, Switzerland, and Edo, Japan, is introduced and the global conditions that allowed for multiple origins of mathematical discoveries are highlighted.