Great Wall Encyclopedia: Mathematics

Author: Editorial Department of the China Encyclopedia Press
Publisher:
Publishing Date: 2004-09-01
Features: The China Encyclopedia is a large-scale comprehensive encyclopedia of our country. China has a long tradition of editing reference books. Over two thousand years, more than four hundred types of reference books have been published. These reference books are treasures of our national cultural heritage, as they collect, organize, and preserve important materials from the scientific and cultural classics of various dynasties in China. Some earlier reference books have been lost, but many have been passed down or partially preserved to this day, and these books are cherished by scholars in China and the world. Various reference books differ in format, with some approaching the type of encyclopedia but not meeting the modern definition of an encyclopedia. In the mid-18th century, as China was compiling the massive Siku Quanshu, modern-type encyclopedias were published successively in Western European countries such as France, Germany, England, and Italy. Later, countries like the United States, Russia, and Japan also followed suit. Modern-type encyclopedias concisely summarize the knowledge and history of humanity and emphasize the latest achievements in contemporary science and culture. Over the past two hundred years, the experience of editing encyclopedias has been accumulated, and aspects such as knowledge classification, editing methods, illustration arrangements, and indexing systems have become increasingly complete and scientific. Today, encyclopedias play a very important role in human cultural activities, and various types of encyclopedias have almost become necessities in daily life, much like dictionaries. The Chinese academic community, which has a long tradition of editing reference books, has long regarded the editing of modern-type encyclopedias as its goal. In the early 20th century, several small-scale practical encyclopedias were attempted, including the encyclopedia-like dictionary Cihai, but none of them met the requirements of a modern encyclopedia. When the People's Republic of China was founded, the then-Publishing Bureau considered publishing a Chinese encyclopedia, and later plans for the development of science and culture over a twelve-year period also included the editing and publication of encyclopedias. In 1958, a plan to carry out this work was proposed, but it was not realized. It was not until 1978 that the State Council decided to edit and publish the China Encyclopedia and established the China Encyclopedia Press to oversee the project. As this was China's first encyclopedia, the editing process was inevitably challenging. However, due to the urgent demand of the academic community, it was not feasible to wait for the collection of materials from all disciplines to be relatively complete before editing and publishing; nor was it possible to wait for all entries to be written before compiling the entire book in alphabetical order by the Chinese phonetic alphabet. Instead, experts and scholars from across the country were invited to write entries for different subjects separately, with each subject compiled into one or more volumes and published as a separate volume, allowing the entire work to be released progressively. This approach inevitably introduced many shortcomings, but under the current circumstances, it was the only viable option. We plan to adopt the common practice of encyclopedias edited by other countries in the second edition, arranging all entries in alphabetical order rather than by subject, making it easier for readers to find and check information. The China Encyclopedia first edition is organized into volumes by subject, with entries within each subject arranged in alphabetical order, supplemented by a stroke index and other indexes for easy reference. The content of the China Encyclopedia covers various disciplines and fields, including philosophy, social sciences, literature and art, culture and education, natural sciences, and engineering technology. It is preliminarily planned to have a total of 80 volumes, with each volume containing approximately 1.2 to 1.5 million words (including illustrations and indexes), and the entire work is scheduled to be completed in about ten years. The number of volumes and word count of the first edition will exceed those of most general encyclopedias currently published abroad but will be comparable to the initial editions of some foreign encyclopedias. We plan to adjust and compress the content in the second edition. The book is published in volumes organized by subject (knowledge categories). Each subject is compiled into one or more volumes, or several subjects may be combined into a single volume. Entries are arranged in alphabetical order by the Chinese phonetic alphabet, supplemented by stroke and stroke-shape order. When entries have the same pronunciation, they are arranged by the number of strokes in ascending order. Each volume of a subject generally includes an introductory article that provides an overview of the subject before the classified index of entries. Each volume of a subject lists a classified index of all its entries, allowing readers to grasp the overall scope of the subject. The classified index also reflects the hierarchical relationship of entries. Knowledge themes that intersect between disciplines are covered in relevant volumes, such as the entry for "Computational Fluid Mechanics," which appears in both the Mathematics and Mechanics volumes, with the text tailored to the requirements of each subject. Most entry titles are single words, such as "Surface" or "Group," while others are phrases, such as "Convergence in Probability Theory." The Chinese phonetic alphabet is added above the title of most entries, and most titles are accompanied by their corresponding foreign equivalents. The text of the entries strives to use standardized modern Chinese. Generally, the text does not repeat the title of the entry at the beginning. If the content of an entry refers to other entries and requires additional information from them, the "See" method is used. The titles of the referenced entries are printed in bold in the text of the current entry. Necessary illustrations are included in the text of the entries. Color illustrations are compiled into separate plates and are noted in the relevant entries. Reference bibliographies are appended to the texts of important entries for readers to consult. Each volume of the China Encyclopedia includes a stroke index, a foreign language index, and a content index of all entries. The technical and scientific terms used in the book are approved by relevant authorities. For terms that have not yet been standardized, conventional usage is followed. Place names are based on those approved by the Chinese Geographical Names Commission, with common alternative translations provided in parentheses when necessary. Except where traditional characters are required, simplified characters as listed in the General Table of Simplified Characters published by the State Language Commission in October 1986 are used. Numbers are generally expressed in Arabic numerals, except where they are traditionally written in Chinese characters.