Wang Xiaotong
Wang Xiaotong was a Chinese mathematician of the 6th and 7th centuries. He is known as the author of Jigu Suanjing (continuation of ancient mathematics), one of the ten mathematical classics ( Suanjing shi shu ).
Wang Xiatong presented his book to the first Tang Dynasty Emperor Li Yuan in 618 . There are biographical notes from him in the book. After that, he became interested in mathematics at an early age and studied the Nine Chapters of Arithmetic ( Jiu Zhang Suanshu ) and was particularly impressed by Liu Hui's commentary . He became a mathematics teacher and deputy director of the Department of Astronomy in the Sui Dynasty .
In 623 he and the official Zu Xiaosun were given the task of reforming the recently introduced new calendar, since it had already failed to predict eclipses. In doing so, however, he held backward views and got into an argument with another expert, Fu Renjun. He wanted to neglect the precession of the equinoxes , which have been used in calendar calculations since Zu Chongzhi in the 5th century.
His book Jigu suanjing contains 20 problems, including a problem about a dog chasing a rabbit (according to Wang Xiatong of astronomical origin, the moon's migration through the ecliptic), 13 problems about engineering works such as the volume of levees and granaries, and the construction of an astronomical observation tower , Digging a sewer, and six problems about right triangles. He reduced many of the problems to cubic equations (in some cases also equations of the fourth degree), which he then solved numerically. It is the first Chinese work with cubic equations, which he formulated geometrically. The 18th century Chinese mathematician Ruan Yuan saw this as the first steps in the method of the heavenly element (tian-yuan shu) for solving equations by Li Ye , which corresponds to the Horner scheme .
The formulation of the tasks is sometimes very complicated. One task is concerned with the volume of a dike with a variable trapezoidal cross-section. He is referring to a method by Zu Geng , who used a variant of the Cavalieri principle .
literature
- Jean-Claude Martzloff: A history of chinese mathematics, Springer 1997, p. 140
Web links
- John J. O'Connor, Edmund F. Robertson : Wang Xiaotong. In: MacTutor History of Mathematics archive .
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Wang, Xiaotong |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | Chinese mathematician |
| DATE OF BIRTH | 6th century |
| DATE OF DEATH | 7th century |