MathematicsinAncientChina

Chapter7
Timeline
Li Zhi
Qin Jiushao
Yang Hui
Zhu Shij ie
Liu Hui
Zu Chongzhi
Gnomon,
Ni ne Chapt er s
CHINA
Yuan / Mi ng
Song
Tang War r ing Stat es
War r i ng
St ates
Zhou
Shang Han
1500 CE 1000 CE 1000 BCE
1500 BCE 2000 BCE 2500 BCE 3000 BCE 500 BCE 0 CE 500 CE
Mycenaean Mi noan GREECE Chr i st ian Roman
Hel lenist ic
Cl assical
Ar chai c Dar k
500 CE 0 CE 500 BCE
3000 BCE
2500 BCE 2000 BCE 1500 BCE
1000 BCE
MESOPOTAMIA
EGYPT Int
Int
1000 BCE
1500 BCE 2000 BCE 2500 BCE
3000 BCE
New Kingdom Mi ddle Kingdom Int Old Kingdom Ar chai c
Assyr ia
Old Babylon Akkadia
Sumar ia
EarlyTimeline
ShangDynasty:
ExcavationsnearHuang
River,datingto1600
BC,showedoracle
bones tortoiseshells
withinscriptionsused
fordivination.Thisis
thesourceofwhatwe
knowaboutearly
Chinesenumber
systems.
EarlyTimeline
HanDynasty(206BC220AD)
SystemofEducationespeciallyforcivil
servants,i.e.scribes.
Twoimportantbooks*:
ZhouBiSuan Jing(ArithmeticalClassicofthe
GnomonandtheCircularPathsofHeaven)
Jiu ZhangSuan Shu (NineChaptersonthe
MathematicalArt)
*unlessofcoursewereoffbyamillenniumorso.
NineChapters
Thissecondbook,NineChapters,became
centraltomathematicalworkinChinafor
centuries.Itisbyfarthemostimportant
mathematicalworkofancientChina.Later
scholarswrotecommentariesonitinthe
samewaythatcommentarieswerewrittenon
TheElements.
Chaptersinuh,theNineChapters
1. Fieldmeasurements,areas,fractions
2. Percentagesandproportions
3. Distributionsandproportions;arithmeticand
geometricprogressions
4. LandMeasure;squareandcuberoots
5. Volumesofshapesusefulforbuilders.
6. Fairdistribution(taxes,grain,conscripts)
7. Excessanddeficitproblems
8. Matrixsolutionstosimultaneousequations
9. GouGu:
2 2 2
;astronomy,
surveying
LinearEquations
Therearethreeclassesofgrain,ofwhich
threebundlesofthefirstclass,twoofthe
second,andoneofthethird,make39
measures.Twoofthefirst,threeofthe
second,andoneofthethirdmake34
measures.Andoneofthefirst,twoofthe
secondandthreeofthethirdmake26
measures.Howmanymeasuresofgrainare
containedinonebundleofeachclass?
LinearEquations
Solution:Arrangethe3,2,and1bundlesof
the3classesandthe39measuresoftheir
grainsattheright.Arrangeotherconditions
atthemiddleandtheleft:
1 2 3
2 3 2
3 1 1
26 34 39
LinearEquations
Withthefirstclassontherightmultiply
currentlythemiddlecolumnanddirectlyleave
out.(Thatis,multiplythemiddlecolumnby
3,andthensubtractsomemultipleofthe
rightcolumn,toget0).
1 0 3
2 5 2
3 1 1
26 24 39
LinearEquations
Dothesamewiththeleftcolumn:
0 0 3
4 5 2
8 1 1
39 24 39
LinearEquations
Thenwithwhatremainsofthesecondclass
inthemiddlecolumn,directlyleaveout.In
otherwords,repeattheprocedurewiththe
middlecolumnandleftcolumn:
0 0 3
4 5 2
8 1 1
39 24 39
0 0 3
0 5 2
36 1 1
99 24 39
LinearEquations
ThiswasequivalenttoadownwardGaussian
reduction.Theauthorthendescribedhowto
backsubstitutetogetthecorrectanswer.
MethodofDoubleFalsePosition
Or,ExcessandDeficit.
Atubofcapacity10dou containsacertain
quantityofhuskedrice.Grains(unhusked
rice)areaddedtofillupthetub.Whenthe
grainsarehusked,itisfoundthatthetub
contains7dou ofhuskedricealtogether.Find
theoriginalamountofhuskedrice.Assume1
dou ofunhusked riceyields6sheng ofhusked
rice,with1dou =10sheng.
OurMethod,Maybe
Letxbeamountofhuskedrice,ybeamountof
unhusked rice.Then and
6
10
.So ,andsubstituting
wehave
6
10
.Simplifying,we
get
2
5
,and
5
2
,or2dou,5sheng.
MethodofDoubleFalsePosition
Iftheoriginalamountis2dou,ashortageof2
sheng occurs.Iftheoriginalamountif3dou,
thereisanexcessof2sheng.Crossmultiply2
dou bythesurplus2sheng,andthen3dou by
thedeficiencyof2sheng,andaddthetwo
productstogive10dou.Dividethissumby
thesumofthesurplusanddeficiencyto
obtaintheanswer2dou and5sheng.
DoubleFalsePosition

22+32
2+2
10
4
Whydoesthiswork?
Wewanttosolve
2
5
Ingeneral,well
examineamethodforsolving .
DoubleFalsePosition
Sosupposewewanttosolve .
Welldoitbymakingtwoguesses
1
and
2
,
withtherespectiveerrors
1 1
,and
2 2
.
Thensubtractingtheseequationsgives
1 2 1 2
.Next,multiplying
equation1by
2
andequation2by
1
weget:
DoubleFalsePosition
1 2 2 1 2
,and
2 1 1 2 1
.
Subtractingtheseequationsgives:
2 1 1 2 2 1
.Finally,dividingthis
equationby
1 2 1 2
givesus:
-b
u
]
1
g
2
-]
2
g
1
]
1
-]
2
.Finally,if
1
isasurplusand
2
is
adeficit,wecansay
-b
u
]
1
g
2
+]
2
g
1
]
1
+]
2
.
GouGu inZhouBi
LiuHuis ProofofGouGu
SongDynasty(900 1279)
TwoBooksbyZhuShijie hadtopicssuchas:
Pascalstriangle(350yearsbeforePascal)
Solutionofsimultaneousequationsusingmatrix
methods
Celestialelementmethodofsolvingequations
ofhigherdegree.(Hornersmethod)
Europeanalgebrawouldntcatchuptothis
leveluntilthe1700s.
Numeration
NumeralsontheOracleStones:
Numeration
Numeration
Hindu
Arabic
0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 100 1000
Chinese
Financial
CountingRodSystem
CountingRods
Countingrodsallowedforanumberofvery
quickcalculations,includingthebasicfour
arithmeticoperations,andextractionofroots.
Someexamples:
MultiplicationwithCountingRods





1. Setupthetwofactors,
inthiscase68and47,
suchthattheonesdigit
ofthebottomisaligned
withthetensdigitofthe
top.Leaveroomin
middleforcalculations.
2. Multiplytensdigitoftop
bytensdigitofbottom,
placeinmiddlewith
onesoverthebottoms
tensdigit.
MultiplicationwithCountingRods

3. Multiplyonesdigiton
topbytensdigiton
bottom,andaddto
middle.
4. Sinceyouveusedthe
tensdigitontop,erase
it.
MultiplicationwithCountingRods

5. Movebottomdigitsto
therightonespace.
6. Multiplytensdigiton
bottombyonesdigit
oftop;placeonesdigit
ofanswerabovetens
onbottom,and
7. Combine.

MultiplicationwithCountingRods

8. Erasethetensdigiton
bottombecauseyoure
donewithit.
9. Finally,multiplythe
twounitsdigits,and
addthemtothe
middle.
10. Combine,anderase
theunitsdigitsontop
andbottom.

DivisionwithCountingRods
1. Placethedividend,
407,inthemiddlerow
andthedivisor,9,in
thebottomrow.Leave
spaceforthetoprow.
2. 7doesntgointo4,so
shiftthe7totheright

DivisionwithCountingRods
3. Ninegoesforty4
timeswitha
remainderof4;write
thequotientinthetop
row,theremainderin
themiddle.
4. Shiftthe9totheright
onedigit.

DivisionwithCountingRods
5. Ninegoesinto47five
times,witha
remainderof2.Put5
ontop,remainderin
themiddle.
6. Theansweris,45,
remainder2.

Fractions
FromNineChapters:
Ifthedenominatorandnumeratorcanbe
halved,halvethem.Ifnot,laydownthe
denominatorandnumerator,subtractthe
smallernumberfromthegreater.Repeatthe
processtoobtainthegreatestcommondivisor
(teng). Simplifytheoriginalfractionby
dividingbothnumbersbytheteng.
Fractions
Additionandsubtractionweredoneaswedo
thembutwithoutnecessarilyfindingleast
commondenominators thecommon
denominatorisjusttheproductofthetwo
denominators.Thefractionissimplifiedafter
addingorsubtracting.
Fractions
Multiplicationwasdoneaswedoit.
Divisionwasdonebyfirstgettingcommon
denominators,theninvertingandmultiplying
sothatthecommondenominatorscancel.
Thenthefractionwassimplified.
Negativenumbers?
Red andblackrods,orrodslaiddiagonallyover
others.
Forsubtractions withthesamesigns,take
awayonefromtheother;withdifferentsigns,
addonetotheother;positivetakenfromnothing
makesnegative,negativefromnothingmakes
positive.
Foraddition withdifferentsignssubtractone
fromtheother;withthesamesignsaddoneto
theother;positiveandnothingmakespositive;
negativeandnothingmakesnegative.
Approximationsof
LiuHui,260AD:3.1416(byinscribing
hexagonincircle,usingthePythagorean
Theoremtoapproximatesuccessively
polygonsofsides12,24,.,96).
Zu Chongzhi,480AD:between3.1415926
and3.1415927(bysimilarmethod,but
movingpast96tooh,say24,576).
SolvingPolynomials
PreciousMirroroftheFourElementsbyShu
Shijie,1303CE.
MethodknownasFanFa,todayknownas
HornersMethod, andusingwhatyoumay
knowassyntheticdivision.
FanFa:
Startingwithaguessof
1,wedosynthetic
divisiontoget
remainder12.Then
ignoringtheremainder,
wedoanothersynthetic
divisiononthe
quotient,andrepeat
untilwegetdowntoa
constant.
1 1 7 3 21
1 6 9
1 6 9 12
1 1 6 9
1 5
1 5 14
1 1 5
1
1 4
1 1
1
FanFa:
Theremaindersonthe
firstandsecondlines
aredividedand
multipliedby1to
obtainthenext
adjustmenttothe
guessforaroot.
Also,
1 1 7 3 21
1 6 9
1 6 9 12
1 1 6 9
1 5
1 5 14
1 1 5
1
1 4
1 1
1 GUESS: 0.857143
FanFa:
Theremaindersgive
youthepolynomialfor
thenextroundof
syntheticdivision.
1 1 7 3 21
1 6 9
1 6 9 12
1 1 6 9
1 5
1 5 14
1 1 5
1
1 4
1 1
1
FanFa:
Oursuggestednext
guesswas0.857143.
Wetry0.8,butthe
negativesignonthe
nextguess(0.06753)
tellsusour0.8wastoo
large.Wegobackto
0.7.
0.8 1 4 14 12
0.8 2.56 13.248
1 3.2 16.56 1.248
0.8 1 3.2 16.56
0.8 1.92
1 2.4 18.48
0.8 1 2.4
0.8
1 1.6
0.8 1
1 GUESS: 0.06753
FanFa:
Thistime,wegeta
positivenextguessof
0.03217.Sowetake
0.03asourguessfor
thenextdigit,andgo
again.
And,again,wetakethe
enddigitsfromeach
resultlinetopopulate
ournexttopline.
0.7 1 4 14 12
0.7 2.31 11.417
1 3.3 16.31 0.583
0.7 1 3.3 16.31
0.7 1.82
1 2.6 18.13
0.7 1 2.6
0.7
1 1.9
0.7 1
1 GUESS: 0.032157
FanFa:
Runningthealgorithm
again,wegetanext
guessof.002.
Sofarthen,our
approximaterootis
1.73andisheadingfor
about1.732
0.03 1 1.9 18.13 0.583
0.03 0.0561 0.54558
1 1.87 18.1861 0.037417
0.03 1 1.87 18.1861
0.03 0.0552
1 1.84 18.2413
0.03 1 1.84
0.03
1 1.81
0.03 1
1 GUESS: 0.002051
FanFa:
Ournextguessis
positiveandverysmall,
sotheerrorinour
currentapproximation
issmall.Bestguess:
1.732(+0.00005ish?)
2050808
0.002 1 1.81 18.2413 0.037417
0.002 0.00362 0.03649
1 1.808 18.2449 0.000927
0.002 1 1.808 18.2449
0.002 0.00361
1 1.806 18.2485
0.002 1 1.806
0.002
1 1.804
0.002 1
1 GUESS: 5.08E05
FanFa:
Aw,heck.Justforfun,
letsgoonemore:
Asyoucansee,were
gettingveryclosetoour
calculatorprovided
approximation.
0.00005 1 1.804 18.2485 0.000927
0.00005 9E05 0.00091
1 1.80395 18.2486 1.47E05
0.00005 1 1.80395 18.2486
0.00005 9E05
1 1.8039 18.2487
0.00005 1 1.8039
0.00005
1 1.80385
0.00005 1
1 GUESS: 8.08E07
FanFa andHorner
ThisgeneralmethodwasrediscoveredbyWilliam
Horner(1786 1837)andpublishedinapaperin
1830.
Exceptitwasprettymuchidenticaltoamethod
publishedin1820byTheopholis Holdred,a
Londonwatchmaker.
Ofcourse,PaoloRuffini (1765 1822),whowe
willdiscusslaterinanothercontext,alreadywon
aprizeforoutliningthismethodinItaly.
And,ofcourse,theresShu Shijie,morethanfour
centuriesearlier.
MagicSquares
LoShu
Thesemimythical
EmperorYu,(circa2197
BC)walkingalongthe
banksoftheLuo River,
lookeddowntoseethe
DivineTurtle.Onthe
backofhisshellwasa
strangedesign.
LoShu
Whenthedesignonthe
backwastranslatedinto
numbers,itgavethe
3x3magicsquare.
Sayingthe3x3magic
squareisappropriate
becauseitisuniqueup
torotationsand
reflections.
HeTu
Accordingtolegend,
theHeTu issaidtohave
appearedtoEmperor
Yuonthebackof(or
fromthehoofprintsof)
aDragonHorse
springingoutofthe
Huang(Yellow)River.
HeTu
Whenitwastranslated
intonumbers,itgavea
crossshapedarray.
Tounderstandits
meaningistounderstand
thestructureofthe
universe,apparently.
Or,atleasttounderstand
that,disregardingthe
central5,theoddsand
evensbothaddto20.
7
2
8 3 5 4 9
1
6
MagicSquares
YangHui,ContinuationofAncient
MathematicalMethodsforElucidatingthe
StrangePropertiesofNumbers,1275.
Order3
Arrange19inthree
rowsslanting
downwardtotheright.
1
4 2
7 5 3
8 6
9
Order3
Arrange19inthree
rowsslanting
downwardtotheright.
Exchangethehead(1)
andtheshoe(9).
9
4 2
7 5 3
8 6
1
Order3
Arrange19inthree
rowsslanting
downwardtotheright.
Exchangethehead(1)
andtheshoe(9).
Exchangethe7and3.
9
4 2
3 5 7
8 6
1
Order3
Arrange19inthree
rowsslanting
downwardtotheright.
Exchangethehead(1)
andtheshoe(9).
Exchangethe7and3.
Lower9,andraise1.
4 9 2
3 5 7
8 1 6
Order3
Arrange19inthree
rowsslanting
downwardtotheright.
Exchangethehead(1)
andtheshoe(9).
Exchangethe7and3.
Lower9,andraise1.
Skootch*inthe3and7
*technicalterm
4 9 2
3 5 7
8 1 6
Order3 TheLoShu
Order4
Write1 16infour
rows.
1 2 3 4
5 6 7 8
9 10 11 12
13 14 15 16
Order4
Write1 16infour
rows.
Exchangecornersof
outersquare
16 2 3 13
5 6 7 8
9 10 11 12
4 14 15 1
Order4
Write1 16infour
rows.
Exchangecornersof
outersquare
Exchangethecornersof
innersquare.
16 2 3 13
5 11 10 8
9 7 6 12
4 14 15 1
Order4
Write1 16infour
rows.
Exchangecornersof
outersquare
Exchangethecornersof
innersquare.
16 2 3 13
5 11 10 8
9 7 6 12
4 14 15 1
Order4
Write1 16infour
rows.
Exchangecornersof
outersquare
Exchangethecornersof
innersquare.
Voila!Sumis34.
16 2 3 13
5 11 10 8
9 7 6 12
4 14 15 1
Order4
Othermagicsquaresoforder4arepossible
fordifferentinitialarrangementsofthe
numbers1 16.
13 9 5 1
14 10 6 2
15 11 7 3
16 12 8 4
4 9 5 16
14 7 11 2
15 6 10 3
1 12 8 13
Order5,6,7,.
YangHui constructedmagicsquaresoforders
upthrough10,althoughsomewere
incomplete.
ALittleAboutMagicSquares
Normal magicsquaresof
ordernarenxnarrays
containingeachnumber
from1through
2
They
existforall .
Thesumofeachrow,
column,anddiagonalis
themagicnumber M
whichfornormalmagic
squaresdependsonlyon
n.

n n
2
+1
2
.Forthefirst
fewns thisis15,34,65.
111,175...
Forn odd,thenumberin
thecentralcellis
M
n