Wu Jing (mathematician)
Wu Jing | |
|---|---|
| 吳敬 | |
 | |
| Born | |
| Nationality | Ming |
| Occupation | Accountant, mathematician, writer |
| Notable work | Jiuzhang Suanfa Bilei Daquan (1450) |
Wu Jing (Chinese: 吳敬; pinyin: Wú Jìng; Wade–Giles: Wu Ching, fl. 15th century), courtesy name Xinmin (信民), art name Zhu Yi Weng (主一翁), was a Chinese accountant, mathematician, and writer of the Ming dynasty who in 1450 published the arithmetic treatise Jiuzhang Suanfa Bilei Daquan (九章算法比類大全, "Complete Description of the Nine Chapters on Arithmetical Techniques").[1]
Life
According to the 1488 foreword to Wu Jing's book written by Xiang Qi (項麒), a Ministry of Justice administrator who also hailed from Renhe (仁和, modern Hangzhou), Wu apparently worked as an accountant for several local officials and had a hand on the census, land surveys, and taxations of Zhejiang province.[2]
Work
Jiuzhang Suanfa Bilei Daquan originally contained nine chapters excluding the "table of contents" chapter. After a fire destroyed many printing woodblocks, Wu Jing's grandson Wu Ne (吳訥) added some materials as he prepared the manuscript for re-printing. Currently, there are at least four extant copies from the Ming dynasty, housed separately in four libraries in Beijing and Shanghai.[3]
Every chapter begins with a topic from an "ancient" mathematical book, followed by Wu Jing's explanation of how real-life problems are solved with arithmetics.[4] For example, in the first chapter, "Land" (方田), Wu described how to approximate land areas of different shapes and included 214 problems.[5]
Reception
Because he was concerned with real-life problems, Wu Jing often preferred approximations over exact solutions.[6] The Ming-period mathematician Cheng Dawei criticized Wu's work as "disorganized and containing numerous mistakes" in his Suanfa tongzong (1592). The Qing-period scholar Mei Wending, however, considered Wu's work superior to Suanfa tongzong.[7]
Wu did not come up with new ways of solving older problems; he did, however, invent new methods of using the abacus.[8] He also proposed using colors and visualization to solve math (especially geometric) problems, which may have influenced Chinese cartography.[9]
The modern mathematician Qian Baocong noticed several identical arithmetic methods in Wu's work and the slightly later Treviso Arithmetic (1478).[10]
References
- ^ O'Connor, J J; Robertson, E F (December 2003). "Overview of Chinese mathematics". MacTutor History of Mathematics archive. Retrieved 19 March 2021.
- ^ Lao 1999, p. 330.
- ^ Lao 1999, p. 331–332.
- ^ Lao 1999, p. 332.
- ^ Lao 1999, p. 335.
- ^ Lao 1999, p. 335.
- ^ Lao 1999, p. 337.
- ^ Lao 1999, p. 337–344.
- ^ Lao 1999, p. 336–337.
- ^ Lao 1999, p. 344–345.
- Lao Hansheng (劳汉生) (1999). "吴敬《九章算法比类大全》" [Wu Jing's Jiuzhang Suanfa Bilei Daquan]. In Li Di (李迪) (ed.). 中国数学史大系，第六卷：西夏金元明 [Compendium of the History of Chinese Mathematics, Volume Six: Western Xia, Jin, Yuan, and Ming] (in Chinese). Beijing Normal University Press. pp. 330–345. ISBN 7-303-04927-4.
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