Yang Hui

This entry features the mathematician Yang Hui (c. 1238 c. 1298) but also is a brief account of the development of Chinese mathematics. Chinese civili ations alon! the Chan!"ian! (#an!t e) and the $uan! $e (#ello%) rivers are comparable in a!es %ith those alon! the &ile or bet%een the Ti!ris and the 'uphrates. (airly reputable tradition tells us that the Chinese first formulated some theories about descriptive astronomy around the rei!n of (uh)hi* the first emperor of China (28+2 2,38 -C'). The ori!ins of Chinese mathematics can be traced to at least the third millennium -C'* %hen numeration systems and a smatterin! of !eometry %ere developed. The bible of Chinese civili ation The Book of Changes (Yi jing)* %ritten in the 12th century -C'* contained instruction for ma.in! calculations. The -oo. of Chan!es used he/a!rams to describe the interaction bet%een Yin and Yang. 0hen #in and #an! are balanced* one achieves the state of Taiji* the 1upreme 2ltimate.

3ittle is .no%n of ancient Chinese mathematics* since durin! the Ch4in dynasty the despotic emperor 1hih $uan!)ti* %ho ruled from 221 to 25, -C'* ordered all boo.s to be burned and scholars buried alive. The oldest .no%n truly mathematical te/ts %ere produced durin! the follo%in! $an period in the third century -C' by scholars %ho transcribed China6s literary and scientific traditions from memory or from remainin! fra!ments of scroll. 7lthou!h chiefly dealin! %ith the calendar* the Chu-pe Suanking* (The Arithmetic Classic of the Gnomon and the Circular Paths of ea!en) also contained various modern mathematical principles. 8t included the oldest .no%n proof of the 9ytha!orean Theorem. "iu#hang suanshu or Chu Chang Suan Shu ($ine Chapters of the %athematical Arts c. 252 -C') %as the !reatest of the Chinese mathematical classics. 8t contained 2:; problems divided into nine chapters*

coverin! topics such as surveyin!* %ei!hts and measures* currency and ta/ collection* percenta!e and proportion* the rule of three* the rule of false position* and simultaneous linear e<uations.

The ne/t ma"or %or. %as the seventh century 7.=. te/tboo. Suanjing shi shu (The Ten Computational Canons&* a compilation of the most important %or.s then .no%n. 8n the thirteenth century the al!ebras Shu-shu chiu-chang of Ch6in Chiu)shao and 3i Chih6s Ts'e-()an hai-ching appeared. These %ere follo%ed by the %or. of #an! $ui* a minor civil servant. $e %rote several mathematics boo.s* includin! siang-chieh chiu-chang suan-fa (*etailed Anal(sis of the %athematical +ules in the $ine Chapters) and the three volumes Ch'eng-ch'u t'ung-pien pen-mo (,undamental %utual Changes in %ultiplications and *i!isions).

The first boo. is a revision of the $ine Chapters* incorporatin! ne% material and discardin! some un%anted sections. #an! $ui added three chapters to the ori!inal nine. 7ccordin! to the preface* he selected 85 of the ori!inal 2:; problems for detailed discussion. The introduction to the boo. as %ell as the first t%o chapters are no% lost. The first chapter dealt %ith ordinary methods of multiplication and division* and the second %ith >1urveyin! the 3and.? Titles of some of the other chapters are@ >'/cess and =eficiency*? and >Ai!ht 7n!les.? The first volume of #an! $ui6s second %or. %as ,undamental %utual Changes in %ultiplications and *i!isions. The other t%o volumes %ere Treasure of %athematical Arts on the %utual Changes in %ultiplications and *i!isions* and ,undamentals of the Applications of %athematics. #an! $ui also %rote the t%o)volume Practical +ules of %athematics for Sur!e(ing and Continuation of Ancient %athematical %ethods for -lucidating the Strange Properties of $um.ers. 1ubse<uently* all seven of #an! $ui6s treatises %ere incorporated as one %or.* The %athematical Arts of Yang ui. 8t %as first printed in 13,8 in China and in Borea in 1:33.

8n Practical +ules* #an! $ui !ave the earliest e/planations of the Chinese methods for solvin!

<uadratic e<uations* includin! the familiar <uadratic formula. The Strange Properties of $um.ers is the first e/tant Chinese te/t to include ma!ic s<uares (or >vertical and hori ontal dia!rams? as they %ere called) of order !reater than three. 7ccordin! to le!end* as the 1a!e Bin! #u the Creat (died 219, -C') stood on the ban. of the river 3uo a tortoise emer!ed from the 3uo. Dn the undershell of the tortoise %as a 3 / 3 array of the numbers 1 throu!h 9 encoded in dots. This %as the 3uo 1hu E(i!ure 11.1aF* a uni<ue perfect ma!ic s<uare of order three. 'ach ro%* column and dia!onal has a sum of 1+. =aoists thou!ht of the odd numbers in the central cross of the 3uo 1hu as yan! numbers and the even numbers as yin numbers. The 3uo 1hu represented a state of balance and harmony bet%een the numbers. 'mperor #u received yet another ma!ic s<uare !ift from a miraculous animal* this time a dra!on horse %hich emer!ed from the #ello% Aiver. The horse carried %hat has come to be .no%n the o Thu E(i!ure 11.F. The arran!ement of this dia!ram is a bit different. 8f the t%o center sets of dots representin! + and 15 are i!nored* both the even and odd sets add up to 25.

(i!ure 11.1a

(i!ure 11.1.

#an! $ui considered ma!ic s<uares of orders up to nine and fascinatin! interloc.in! ma!ic circles such as that in (i!ure 11.2. 8n a ma!ic circle* n concentric circles are cut by n diameters* and numbers are placed on the points of intersection. 8n (i!ure 11.2* the sum of the numbers of any diameter is e<ual to 1:, and that of the circles is 138.

(i!ure 11.2

#an! $ui used the method of successive appro/imations for findin! s<uare and cube roots. 8n 1819* 0.C. $orner e/pounded these methods* ori!inally found in the $ine Chapters/ una%are that he had rediscovered methods already a thousand years old. The !eometric techni<ue for e/tractin! roots is e<uivalent to usin! the binomial e/pansion* %hose numerical coefficients can be e/pressed by %hat is no% .no%n as >9ascal6s Trian!le.? This pattern %as .no%n and used in calculations in China for several centuries before it %as .no%n in the 0est. 8n China* it is .no%n as >#an! $ui6s trian!le.? The frontispiece of the Si(an (ujian (1353) by Ghu 1iyuan sho%s this trian!le of coefficients %ritten in Chinese characters E(i!ure 11.3F.

(i!ure 11.3

The ancient Chinese used t%o different numeration systems* one employed a multiplicative principal and the other a positional one. -oth %ere essentially decimal. 8n the first* distinct symbols %ere used for the di!its from one to ten and for po%ers of ten. 0hen %ritin! a number* the di!its %ere multiplied by their place values. (or instance* the number 1,2+ %ould be represented by the symbol for one* follo%ed by the symbol for one thousand* then the symbol for seven* follo%ed by the symbol for one hundred* then the symbol for t%o* follo%ed by the symbol for ten* and finally five. The %ord >lin!? (%hich means > ero?) or its symbol is mentioned %henever any po%er of ten is not represented in the e/pression of the number. -ut this custom %as established late in the development of the Chinese) number system.

8n China6s system of >rod numerals?* the di!its from one to nine are represented in the first ro% of

(i!ure 11.: and the first nine multiples of ten in the second ro%.

(i!ure 11.:

-y the use of these ei!hteen symbols in positions from ri!ht to left* numbers of any practical value could be represented. The round symbol for ero appeared only much later. (i!ure 11.+ !ives the symbols for 1 throu!h 15* 155* and 1555 in terms of Chinese characters* %hich respectively represent the %ords yi (one)* er (t%o)* san (three)* si (four)* %u (five)* liu (si/)* <i (seven)* ba (ei!ht)* "iu (nine)* shi (ten)* pai (155)* and ch4ien (thousand).

(i!ure 11.+

Quotation of the Day@ >2nits are vertical* tens are hori ontal*
$undreds stand* thousands lie do%n*

Thus thousands and tens loo. the same* Ten thousands and hundreds loo. ali.e.? )1un Tsu (255 C') e/plains the method of recordin! numbers.