Seki Kowa was considered the most influential person of what is now referred to as the "Japanese Calculation" but still considered the "wasan" period which was dominant from the 17th century until around the middle of the 19th century. Seki was credited with vast greatness for his ingenious skills within mathematics as well as his ability to use the lost, but recovered, mathematics previously recorded in ancient Chinese.
It was Seki Takakazu who discovered a mathematical notation system that was considered new at the time. He was later credited with the Bernoulli numbers system that Jacob Bernoulli received recognition and credit for finding and developing.
His name is historical for many reasons but his claim to fame may have been because of his creation of the Seki School which was a school of mathematics. His work with variables and coefficients were commendable but his later findings with determinants became a contribution of notable recognition because of the abilities this finding allowed. Through the use of the determinant, mathematicians and their students were able to eliminate variables in equations deemed simultaneous.
Seki Kowa Takakazu had a brilliant mind and even when he wasn’t credited directly with the new mathematic discoveries, Seki Kowa or his initial groundwork lay dormant in many new findings. He wrote on "magic squares" and was later credited with discovering the Newton-Raphson method.
While no one will ever know all of the Western discoveries that were first anticipated by Seki Kowa due to the safeguard practices of the Japanese schools, one thing is still obvious. Seki Takakazu was responsible for many aspects of superior mathematical developments. He will always be remembered for his profound impact on the overall discovery of calculus where his fingerprints are forever embedded in the initial practices.
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