Qin Jiushao

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

This article is currently protected from page moves until disputes have been resolved on the discussion page.
This protection is not an endorsement of the current title. See the protection policy and protection log for more details. The page may still be edited but cannot be moved until unprotected. Please discuss any suggested moves on the talk page or at Wikipedia:Requested moves. You can also request that the page be unprotected.

Editing of this article by new or unregistered users is currently disabled.
See the protection policy and protection log for more details. If you cannot edit this article and you wish to make a change, you can discuss changes on the talk page, request unprotection, log in, or create an account.

This article contains Chinese text.
Without proper rendering support, you may see question marks, boxes, or other symbols instead of Chinese characters.

Qin Jiushao (traditional Chinese: 秦九韶; simplified Chinese: 秦九劭; pinyin: Qín Jiǔshào; Wade-Giles: Ch’in Chiu-Shao, ca. 1202–1261), courtesy name Daogu (道古), was a Chinese mathematician born in Ziyang, Sichuan, his ancestry was from Shandong, and is now regarded as one of the greatest mathematicians of the 13th century. This is particularly remarkable, as Qin did not devote his life to mathematics. He was accomplished in many other fields, however, and held a series of bureaucratic positions in several Chinese provinces.

Qin’s reputation as a mathematician lies in the Shùshū Jiǔzhāng (“Mathematical Treatise in Nine Sections”), issued in 1247. The treatise covered matters that ranged from indeterminate analysis to military matters and surveying. In the treatise, Qin included a version of the Chinese remainder theorem, which used algorithms to solve problems. In geometry, he discovered “Qin Jiushao's formula” in finding the area of a triangle with given length of three sides. This is the same as Heron’s formula, discovered earlier. He wrote most of his findings in a book titled [Mathematical Treatise in Nine Sections].

Qin recorded the earliest explanation of how Chinese calendar experts calculated astronomical data according to the timing of the winter solstice. Among his accomplishments are introducing techniques for solving equations, finding sums of arithmetic series, and solving linear systems. He also introduced the use of the zero symbol in Chinese mathematics.

After he completed his work on mathematics, he went into politics. He was boastful and corrupt, so several times he was relieved of his duties, and put in 'suspension'. Even so, he managed to become very wealthy. Different from most ancient mathematicians, he was not very wise and was bored quickly with math, which was why he spent little of his life focused on it.