scientific article; zbMATH DE number 1358160

Authors John N. Crossley, Anthony W. C. Lun, Kangshen Shen

Publication date 8 November 1999

Jinzhang suanshu The nine chapters on the mathematical art

History of Chinese mathematics (01A25) Collected or selected works; reprintings or translations of classics (01A75)

The present work is the first full English translation of the famous ``Jiuzhang suanshu from the Han dynasty and its most ancient commentaries. No other such translations have ever been published in any Occidental language previously even though available partial translations and studies of the Jiuzhang suanshu in English, German, Russian or French are particularly numerous. But the authors have almost never based their work on the latest available researches, even from the limited point of view of English sources. But first and foremost, the translation itself only represents a small fraction of the work which is in fact an incredible hotchpotch of heterogeneous mathematical problems, results, notions and proofs, Chinese and non-Chinese alike, loosely related to the Jiuzhang suanshu by assuming that vague mathematical analogies are sufficient to establish historical relationships and lines of transmission of mathematical knowledge. Consequently, the mathematical techniques presented go back to remote antiquity and extend as far as the end of the nineteenth century. In fact, this last aspect of the work is so prominent that the translation itself ``disappears as it were, immersed as it is in an ocean of anachronistic digressions of various kinds aimed at ``proving Chinese chronological priority, ethnic superiority and originality in mathematics during all historical periods. Simultaneously, the narrative focus on the idea of an unceasing competition between nations, the proud and superior Chinese versus all the others. All this is backed by a historiography, borrowed to the most conservative Chinese classical tradition and whose purpose centers around conventional praise and blame, with precedents selected in order to provide precepts and examples for the reader. In a word, it is a kind of catechism. Liu Hui (3rd century A. D.), for example -- the famous commentator of the Jiuzhang suanshu -- is depicted as a ``socially conscious mathematician involved in the application of mathematics to Chinese economy; he is also characterised by his scholarship, tireless zeal and modesty (sic) and is presented as a model mathematician whose example should be followed by contemporary Chinese students (p. 4 and 5). The translation itself, however, appears quite interesting, especially from the point of view of the mathematical analysis of Chinese problems and algorithms which are analysed here for the first time in their totality. But it remains that the history of the transmission of the text of the Jiuzhang suanshu is omitted and, above all, that the authors have hardly consulted the immense Western sinological literature which would have been very helpful to them in many respects, especially in order to find an explanation of the literary and historical sources giving a clue to the real meaning and historical context of so many passages of the Jiuzhang suanshu. Not less characteristically, Japanese terms are transliterated into English as if the underlying language were Chinese (for example, p. 39, Japanese traditional mathematics are wrongly called hesuan and not wasan as it should, p. 114 shu instead of jutsu). Moreover, the pinyin transcription of Chinese terms is not always correct (p. 72, Shen instead of Shun, p. 560, ``Li Chenfung instead of Li Chunfeng; p. 566 ``Dun instead of Deng). And many old errors by Needham and others are repeated uncritically (cf. p. 12, the wrong affirmation according to which the zero was represented by a blank in ancient Chinese mathematical texts, whatever the historical period). Be as it may, the full translation of the Jiuzhang suanshu and its commentaries is nevertheless provided here for the first time and such a translation is perhaps better than no translation at all. But above all the work will be worth reading for anthropologists, ethnologists or sociologists interested in nationalism and the way Chinese history, real or imaginary, serves various purposes in contemporary China. Irrespective of the historical and sociological aspect of the work, mathematicians, however, will find here a rich compilation of attractive problems telling wonderful fairy tales full of imaginative and delightful connections.

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