VIII.
26. Chinese Mathematics.—There appears to be abundant evidence of an intimate connection between Indian and Chinese mathematics. A number of Indian embassies to China and Chinese visits to India are recorded in the fourth and succeeding centuries. The records of these visits are not generally found in Indian works and our knowledge of them in most cases comes from Chinese authorities, and there is no record in Indian works that would lead us to suppose that the Hindus were in any way indebted to China for mathematical knowledge. But, as pointed out before, this silence on the part of the Hindus is characteristic, and must on no account be taken as an indication of lack of influence. We have now before us a fairly complete account of Chinese mathematics[1] which appears to prove a very close connection between the two countries. This connection is briefly illustrated in the following notes.
The earliest Chinese work that deals with mathematical questions is said to be of the 12th century B.C. and it records an acquaintance with the Pythagorean theorem. Perhaps the most celebrated Chinese mathematical work is the Chin-chang Suan-shū or "Arithmetic in Nine Sections" which was composed at least as early as the second century B.C. while Chang T'sang"s commentary on it is known to have been written in A.D. 263. The "Nine Sections" is far more complete than any Indian work prior to Brahmagupta (A.D. 628) and in some respects is in advance of that writer. It treats of fractions, percentage, partnership, extraction of square and cube-roots, mensuration of plane figures and solids, problems involving equations of the first and second
- ↑ By Yoshio Mikami.
