Wu Jing | |
---|---|
吳敬 | |
Born | |
Nationality | Ming |
Occupation(s) | 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]
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]
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]
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]
Wu Jing | |
---|---|
吳敬 | |
Born | |
Nationality | Ming |
Occupation(s) | 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]
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]
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]
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]