Mathematics in ancient China

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The mathematics in ancient China developed from the early civilizations until about the 16th century AD. Chr. Largely unaffected by other cultures. It reached its first heyday in the Han dynasty ; The most important work of Chinese mathematics at all, the Nine Chapters of Arithmetic from the 1st century AD, which summarizes the level of knowledge achieved up to that point, was also created in this epoch . Further progress was made, among other things, by the commentaries and additions to the nine chapters by Liu Hui in the 3rd century and by the collection of the ten mathematical classicsachieved in the 7th century. The mathematics of ancient China reached its peak in the 13th and 14th centuries with the work of the four great mathematicians Yang Hui , Qin Jiushao , Li Ye and Zhu Shijie .

In the area of arithmetic , a specialty of Chinese mathematics was the use of chopsticks and a related number font, which enabled efficient calculation in the decimal place value system . In addition to the four basic arithmetic operations , practical methods for calculating square and cube roots were also known . The geometry in ancient China dealt among other things with surveying tasks, with the determination of areas and volumes and with approximations for the circle constant . Chinese mathematicians made the most significant advances in the field of algebra . The nine chapters already contain methods for solving linear systems of equations and polynomial equations as well as the treatment of simultaneous congruences with the Chinese remainder theorem .

Web links

literature

  • Franka Miriam Brückler: History of Mathematics compact - The most important things from arithmetic, geometry, algebra, number theory and logic . Springer, 2017, ISBN 978-3-662-55351-0 .
  • Dietmar Herrmann: Mathematics in the Middle Ages - The history of mathematics in the West with its sources in China, India and Islam . Springer, Berlin / Heidelberg 2016, ISBN 978-3-662-50289-1 , chap. 2 Chinese mathematics up to 1400 .
  • Luke Hodgkin: A History of Mathematics - From Mesopotamia to Modernity . Oxford University Press, New York 2005, ISBN 978-0-19-852937-8 , 4th Chinese Mathematics.
  • Victor J. Katz : A History of Mathematics - An Introduction . 3. Edition. Addison-Wesley / Pearson, Boston a. a. 2009, ISBN 978-0-321-38700-4 , Chapter 7 Ancient and Medieval China .
  • Jean-Claude Martzloff : A History of Chinese Mathematics . Springer, Berlin / Heidelberg 1997, ISBN 978-3-540-33782-9 .
  • Hans Wußing : 6000 years of mathematics - a cultural-historical journey through time . 1. From the beginning to Leibniz and Newton . Springer, Berlin / Heidelberg 2008, ISBN 978-3-540-77189-0 , section 2.1 Mathematics in ancient China .