From Zero to Infinity

Abstract Both China and India have an ancient mathematical tradition. From the extant records, the encounter of the two traditions took place in Inner Asia, Southeast Asia and in various cosmopolitan centres along the Silk Roads during the first millennium CE . The encounter was documented almost exclusively from the Chinese side, along with fragmentary evidence from Central Asia and the Sino-Indian peripheries, and almost none from India. In this paper, my focus will be the Chinese reception of Indian zero and large numbers, and to evaluate critically the impact they had, or did not have, on the Chinese mathematical tradition, and what the factors for exchange are.