What do you think?
Rate this book
The Suan Shu Shu: "Writings on Reckoning"
Needham Research Institute Working Papers: 1
2004
A translation of a Chinese mathematical collection of the second century BC, with explanatory commentary, and an edition of the Chinese text
The Suan shu shu 筭數書 is an ancient Chinese collection of writings on mathematics approximately seven thousand characters in length, written on 190 bamboo strips. It was discovered together with other writings in 1983 when archaeologists opened a tomb at Zhangjiashan 張家山 in Hubei 湖北 province. From documentary evidence this tomb is thought to have been closed in 186 BC, early in the Western Han 漢 dynasty. The occupant of the tomb - whose name is unknown to us - appears to have been a minor local government official, who had begun his career in the service of the Qin 秦 dynasty, but started work for the Han in 202 BC. The Suan shu shu is anonymous, in the sense that we do not know the name of the person who assembled this material. A few sections of text are however marked with the common surnames Wang 王 and Yang 楊; whether these persons were merely scribes or were the actual authors of mathematical material is not clear.
The Suan shu shu is the earliest known extensive Chinese writing on mathematics. I present here a fully commented translation of the original Chinese text, with an introductory essay. This is followed by a critical edition of the original text prepared from photographs of the bamboo strips themselves.
2004
A translation of a Chinese mathematical collection of the second century BC, with explanatory commentary, and an edition of the Chinese text
The Suan shu shu 筭數書 is an ancient Chinese collection of writings on mathematics approximately seven thousand characters in length, written on 190 bamboo strips. It was discovered together with other writings in 1983 when archaeologists opened a tomb at Zhangjiashan 張家山 in Hubei 湖北 province. From documentary evidence this tomb is thought to have been closed in 186 BC, early in the Western Han 漢 dynasty. The occupant of the tomb - whose name is unknown to us - appears to have been a minor local government official, who had begun his career in the service of the Qin 秦 dynasty, but started work for the Han in 202 BC. The Suan shu shu is anonymous, in the sense that we do not know the name of the person who assembled this material. A few sections of text are however marked with the common surnames Wang 王 and Yang 楊; whether these persons were merely scribes or were the actual authors of mathematical material is not clear.
The Suan shu shu is the earliest known extensive Chinese writing on mathematics. I present here a fully commented translation of the original Chinese text, with an introductory essay. This is followed by a critical edition of the original text prepared from photographs of the bamboo strips themselves.
145 pages, ebook
First published January 1, 2004
7 people want to read
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
No one has reviewed this book yet.