Great Compendium of the History of Chinese Mathematics: Supplement Volume 1. Early Mathematical Literature

Author: Wu Wenjun, Editor-in-Chief
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2004-05-12
Features: In 1984, four experts and professors on the history of Chinese mathematics proposed to compile a comprehensive and monumental work on the historical development of traditional Chinese mathematics, titled The Great Series of the History of Chinese Mathematics. These four professors (listed in order of age) are: Bai Shangshu of Beijing Normal University; Shen Kangshen of Hangzhou University; Li Di of Inner Mongolia Normal University; and Li Jimin of Northwest University. Traditional Chinese mathematics has a long and profound history, with its own unique philosophical system and developmental path. From ancient times to the Song and Yuan dynasties, it was a major force in the global development of mathematics for a long period. However, since the Ming Dynasty, due to various political, social, and other reasons—as pointed out by Xu Guangqi at the end of the Ming Dynasty—on the one hand, "scholars who focus on theory and neglect the practical matters of the world," and on the other hand, "superstitious practices that falsely claim numbers have a divine nature"—traditional Chinese mathematics was on the brink of extinction. It was later completely overshadowed and dominated by the Western Euclidean tradition. Although there was a brief period of emphasis during the Kangxi and Qianlong reigns, it was limited to the excavation and interpretation of ancient texts. By the mid-20th century, Li Yan and Qian Baocong wrote specialized works on the history of Chinese mathematics to introduce it, ensuring that the ancient Chinese calculations continued to survive. The book is divided into two parts: "Early Chinese Mathematical Literature" and "Early Foreign Mathematical Literature." It covers the historical literature on mathematics from seven countries: Egypt, Babylon, Greece, India, Arabia, and Japan.