Legacy of the Luoshu: The 4,000 Year Search for the Meaning of the Magic Square of Order Three

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A symbol of the Divine, a good luck charm, a cosmogram of the world or­der, a template for fengshui —through the ages, the luoshu, or magic squre of order three, has fascinated people of many different cultures.

In this riveting account of cultural detective work, renowned mathematics educator, Frank J. Swetz relates how he uncovered the previously hidden history of the luoshu, from its Chinese origins, shrouded in legend, through its eventual association with Chinese fortunetelling, Daoism, and fengshui, to its incorporation into Islamic astrology and alchemy and its migration into Kabbalistic lore and other occult traditions of the West.

Frank J. Swetz, Professor Emeritus at the Pennsylvania State University, is one of America’s best known mathematics educators. His interest in how society promotes mathematical knowledge led him to try to understand the cultural history of mathematics. He is co-founding editor of Conver­gence, an e-journal devoted to the History of Mathematics and its Teach­ing. He has authored over 300 articles and 20 books, including Was Py­thagoras Chinese? An Examination of Right Triangle Theory in Ancient China (1977) and Capitalism and Arithmetic: The New Math of the Fifteenth Century (1987). He edited From Five Fingers to Infinity: A Journey through the History of Mathematics (1994).