Page "Chinese mathematics" Paragraph 17

It was one of the most influential of all Chinese mathematical books and it is composed of some 246 problems.

Chapter eight deals with solving determinate and indeterminate simultaneous linear equations using positive and negative numbers, with one problem dealing with solving four equations in five unknowns.

Estimates concerning the Chou Pei Suan Ching, generally considered to be the oldest of the mathematical classics, differ by almost a thousand years.

A date of about 300 BC would appear reasonable, thus placing it in close competition with another treatise, the Jiu zhang suanshu, composed about 250 BC, that is, shortly before the Han dynasty ( 202 BC ).

Almost as old at the Chou Pei, and perhaps the most influential of all Chinese mathematical books, was the Jiuzhang suanshu, or Nine Chapters on the Mathematical Art.

This book includes 246 problems on surveying, agriculture, partnerships, engineering, taxation, calculation, the solution of equations, and the properties of right triangles.

Chapter eight of the Nine chapters is significant for its solution of problems of simultaneous linear equations, using both positive and negative numbers.

The earliest known magic squares appeared in China.

The Chinese were especially fond of patterns, as a natural outcome of arranging counting rods in rows on counting board to carry out computation ; hence, it is not surprising that the first record ( of ancient but unknown origin ) of a magic square appeared there.

The concern for such patterns led the author of the Nine Chapters to solve the system of simultaneous linear equations by placing the coefficients and constant terms of the linear equations into a matrix and performing column reducing operations on the matrix to reduce it to a triangular form represented by the equations 36z