On the myth of an ancient Chinese theorem about primality

DOI10.11650/TWJM/1500404988MaRDI QIDQ947045zbMATH OpenOpenAlexFDO

Authors B. E. Eshmatov

Publication date 29 September 2008

Published in Taiwanese Journal of Mathematics (Search for Journal in Brave)

Full work available at URL https://doi.org/10.11650/twjm/1500404988

zbMATH Keywords

Fermat's little theoremHua HengfangLi Shanlan

Mathematics Subject Classification ID

History of Chinese mathematics (01A25) History of mathematics in Late Antiquity and medieval Europe (01A35) Historiography (01A85) History of number theory (11-03)

Review text

Fermat's little theorem about the primality of \(2^{n-1}\) has often been attributed to the most ancient Chinese antiquity by Western authors, for example Rouse Ball's famous Mathematical Recreations and Essays first published in 1892. Some others write that the XIXth century mathematicians Li Shanlan (1811--1882) and Hua Hengfang (1833--1902) also published equivalents of this theorem. All these assertions are examined and unraveled with a wealth of details leaving no room to doubt: the idea of the Chinese origin of this theorem has no substance.

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Cited in

(1)

• Notes on \textit{Shugen Congcao}

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