DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION

Region V
BICOL UNIVERSITY GRADUATE SCHOOL
Legazpi City










History and Philosophy of
Science and Math:
Ancient China
























One of the oldest civilizations known to man is the Ancient Chinese Civilization. It
is otherwise unsurprising that they had made a great deal of contribution in science and
mathematics. The Ancient Chinese developed their math independently and emerged
there around 11th BC. They have developed their concept of negative numbers,
decimals, place value decimal system, binary system, geometry and trigonometry. They
developed independently until the time the Nine Chapter on Mathematical Art reached
its final form which was around the Han Dynasty reign. After that, their study of
mathematics was observed to have been influenced by Roman or otherwise Western
elements.

Around the 3,000 BC the Chinese started the development of abacus, which is a
device used for faster calculations. The studies in math in earlier times are not quite as
accurately reported, probably because the states of China were yet to be united. During
the 2100 AD, China was ruled by the Xia Dynasty, the recording then of mathematical
studies was more accurate. They ruled until the end of 1,600 BC and was replaced by
Shang Dynasty and then by Zhou Dynasty consecutively until 211 BC. During these
years the Chinese made leaps in their study.

Simple mathematics on oracle bone script dates back to the Shang Dynasty. The
Yi Jing, the oldest surviving mathematical text had a great influence in the Zhou
Dynasty literature. It contained elements of binary numbers and sophisticated use of
hexagram. By the time that the Shang Dynasty ruled, the Chinese had already fully
developed a decimal system. They have full understanding of basic arithmetic, algebra,
equations and negative numbers with counting rods. The Chinese were also the first to
develop negative numbers, algebraic geometry and usage of decimals. Although they
were greatly advanced in mathematics, they more focused on arithmetic and advanced
algebra for astronomical uses. During the Zhou Dynasty, mathematics was a required
learning for students. It was one of the Six Arts that a man must learn to be a perfect
gentleman or in a sense, a Renaissance Man. Mo Jing, also known as the Book of
Mozi contains the oldest existent work on geometry in China. Mo Jing provided an
atomic definition of the geometric point, stating that a line is separated into parts and
the parts which have no remaining parts and thus forms the extreme end of a line is a
point. The book provided word recognition for circumference, diameter, and radius,
along with the definition of volume.

After these three Dynasty the time of the Seven Warring State started by 476-
221 AD. Warring States-era architecture had several definitive aspects. City walls, used
for defense, were made longer, and indeed several secondary walls were also
sometimes built to separate the different districts. Versatility in federal structures was
emphasized, to create a sense of authority and absolute power. Architectural elements
such as high towers, pillar gates, terraces, and high buildings amply conveyed this.
There were no notable mathematical achievements by these times, or even if there was
it probably was burned by the following Qin Dynasty.

The Qin Dynasty lead the infamous burning of books and the burying of scholars
incident to attempt to restrict criticism and purge all traces of the old dynasties. The
Qin's military was also revolutionary in that it used the most recently developed
weaponry, transportation, and tactics. Not much is known about their mathematics but
their civil projects were incredible feats of human engineering. One of the projects was
the Great Wall of China, which then were only several walls built back in the 7
th
century
BC. Emperor Qin Shihuang ordered many men to build large, life size statues for the
palace tomb along with various other temples and shrines.

The following dynasty after the Qin is the Han Dynasty that ruled from 206 BC-
220 AD which was a golden age in Chinese history. The Han dynasty's long period of
stability and prosperity consolidated the foundation of China as a unified state under a
central imperial bureaucracy, which was to last intermittently for most of the next two
millennium. Art, Culture and Science all advanced to unprecedented heights. Their
mathematical treatises are extensive; one of them is the Book on Numbers and
Computation or Suan shu shu. It consists of 200 strips of bamboo written in ink and
written sometime between 202 BC and 186 BC. They consist of 69 mathematical
problems from a variety of sources. The problems cover elementary arithmetic,
fractions, inverse proportion, factorization of number, geometric progression, in
particular interest rate calculations and handling errors, conversions between different
units, the false position method for finding roots and the extraction of approximate
square roots, calculation of the volume of various 3-dimensional shapes, relative
dimensions of a square and its inscribed circle.

Another mathematical treatise known in the Han Dynasty is the Arithmetical
Classic of Gnomon and the Circular Path of Heaven. The book itself dates back to the
Zhou Dynasty, yet its compilation and addition of materials continued into the Han
Dynasty. It is an anonymous collection of 246 problems and contains one of the first
recorded proofs of the Pythagorean Theorem.

The most famous treatise of their time might be the Nine Chapters on the
Mathematical Art or Jiuzhang Suanshu. It is a Chinese mathematics book, composed by
several generations of scholars from the 10
th
-2
nd
century BCE. This book is one of the
earliest surviving mathematical texts from China, the first being the Suan shu shu and
Zhou Bi Suan Jing. It lays out an approach to mathematics that centres on finding the
most general methods of solving problems, which may be contrasted with the approach
common to ancient Greek mathematicians, who tended to deduce propositions from an
initial set of axioms.

Some of the problems found in the Suan shu shu appear in the later text
Jiuzhang suanshu; in five cases, the titles are exact matches. However, unlike the
Jiuzhang suanshu, the Suan shu shu does not deal with problems involving right-angle
triangles, square roots, cube roots, and matrix methods, which demonstrates the
significant advancements made in Chinese mathematics between the writings of these
two texts.

Another progress made by the Chinese mathematicians was the approximation
of pi. Liu Xin approximated it at 3.154 sometime between 15 CE, although the method
he used to reach this value is unknown to historians.

The Han Dynasty was also known to be knowledgeable in astronomy. The
astronomer Gan De from the State of Qi was the first in history to acknowledge
sunspots as genuine solar phenomena. There are manuscript illustrates in writings and
ink drawings roughly three-hundred different climatic and astronomical features
including clouds, mirages, rainbows, stars, constellations, and comets. They also
observed the Halleys Comet. They noted the passage of the same comet seen in
Persia for the birth of Mithridates II of Parthia in 135 BCE, the same comet the Romans
observed close to the assassination of Julius Caesar in 44 BCE, Halley's comet in 12
BCE, the same comet noted by Roman historian Cassius Dio for 13 CE, and a
supernova in 185 CE.

The Han Calendar was developed then too. The Han Chinese used astronomical
studies mainly to construct and revise their calendar. In contrast to the Julian calendar
(46 BCE) and Gregorian calendar (1582 CE) of the West (but like the Hellenic calendars
of Classical Greece), the Chinese calendar is a lunisolar calendar, meaning that it uses
the precise movements of the Sun and Moon as time-markers throughout the year.
They also believed in spirit animals, thus their time is named after them. For example;
11am-1pm is the time of the rat.

The Han Dynasty astronomy theory states that the Han-era Chinese believed in
a geocentric model for the immediate solar system and greater universe, as opposed to
heliocentric model. Zhao Shaungs 3rd-century commentary in the Zhoubi suanjing
describes two astronomical theories: in one, the heavens are shaped as a hemi-
spherical dome extending over the earth, while the other compares the earth to the
central yolk of an egg, where the heavens are shaped as a celestial sphere around the
earth. The latter astronomical theory was mentioned by Yang Xiong in his Model
Sayings and expounded on by Zhang Heng in his Spiritual Constitution of the Universe
of 120 CE. Thus, the Han-era Chinese believed in a geocentric model for the immediate
solar system and greater universe, as opposed to a heliocentric model. Jing Fang wrote
in the 1st century BCE that Han astronomers believed the Sun, Moon, and planets were
spherical like balls or crossbow bullets. He also wrote that the Moon and planets
produce no light of their own, are viewable to people on Earth only because they are
illuminated by the Sun, and those parts not illuminated by the Sun would be dark on the
other side.

The Chinese were known to have made the Four Great Invention; two of these
inventions were made during the Han Dynasty. The first is paper-making, it was traced
back to China back in 105 AD, when Cai Lun created a sheet of paper using mulberry
and other bast fibers along with fishnets, old rags, and hemp waste. The second one is
printing; in the woodblock technique, ink is applied to letters carved upon a wooden
board, which is then pressed onto paper. With moveable type, the board is assembled
using different letter types, according to the page being printed.

Technologies applied in agriculture and other society was also surprisingly
advanced. The technique of alternating fields system was invented by Zhao Guo, the
Grain Intendant. For every mou of land, three low-lying furrows that were each 0.23 m
(0.7 ft) wide were sowed in straight lines with crop seed. While weeding in the summer,
the loose soil of the ridges on either side of the furrows would gradually fall into the
furrows, covering the sprouting crops and protecting them from wind and drought. Since
the position of the furrows and ridges were reversed by the next year, this process was
called the alternating fields system.

Pit fields was developed during the reign of Emperor Cheng of Han, Fang
Shengzhi wrote a manual which described pit fields system. In this system, every mou
of farmland was divided into 3,840 grids which had a small pit that was dug 13.8 cm
deep and 13.8 cm wide and had good quality manure mixed into the soil. Twenty seeds
were sowed into each pit, which allegedly produced 0.6 L of harvested grain per pit, or
roughly 2,000 L per mou. They also maintained paddy fields for growing rice. Han rice
farmers to the north around the Huai River practiced an advanced system of
transplantation. In this system, individual plants were given intensive care, their
offshoots separated so that more water could be conserved, and the field could be
heavily fertilized since winter crops were grown while the rice seedlings were situated
nearby in a plant nursery.

Mechanical was also incredibly highly developed during the Han Dynasty, but
there were no proper documentation of them. Most knowledge of engineering was
passed on orally because the Chinese scholars were more focused on their Confucian
study. The Han scholars, who had little expertise in mechanical engineering, sometimes
provided insufficient information on the various technologies they described. Although
that is the case, they still gave crucial information. Yang Xiong in 15 BCE wrote that the
belt drive was used for a quilling device. This invention proves to be important to the
development of later technologies during the Song Dynasty, such as the chain drive and
the spinning wheel. They also employ the use of crank handles which they used to
operate the winnowing machines. To measure distance travelled, the Han also created
the odometer cart. The wheels of this device rotated a set of gears which then forced
mechanical figures to bang gongs and drums that alerted the travelers of the distances
travelled.

The Han Chinese was also the ones that developed the first seismometer. As
described in the Book of the Later Han, the frame of the seismometer was a domed
bronze vessel in the shape of a wine jar, although it was 1.8 m. The trigger mechanism
was an inverted pendulum that, if disturbed by the ground tremors of earthquakes
located near or far away, would swing and strike one of eight mobile arms (representing
the eight directions), each with a crank and catch mechanism. The crank and a right
angle lever would raise one of eight metal dragon heads located on the exterior,
dislodging a metal ball from its mouth that dropped into the mouth of one of eight metal
toads below arranged like the points on a compass rose, thus indicating the direction of
the earthquake.

Their rich knowledge and culture can also perhaps be attributed to their
development of the Silk Road. The Silk Road is a series of trade and cultural
transmission routes that were central to cultural interaction through regions of the Asian
continent connecting the West and East by linking traders, merchants, pilgrims, monks,
soldiers, nomads, and urban dwellers from China to the Mediterranean Sea during
various periods of time. Trade on the Silk Road was a significant factor in the
development of the civilizations of China, the Indian subcontinent, Persia, Europe, and
Arabia, opening long-distance, political and economic interactions between the
civilizations. The western knowledge, culture and merchandise passed their road and
vise versa.

The Han Dynasty declined around 200 AD and ended at 220 AD. The Chinese
broke into the Three Kingdoms and was called the Period of Disunity. During these
times there were a few notable mathematicians known. One of them was Liu Hui, he
wrote his commentary on the Nine Chapters and also wrote Haidao suanjing which
dealt with using Pythagorean Theorem, and triple, quadruple triangulation for surveying;
his accomplishment in the mathematical surveying exceeded those accomplished in the
west by a millennium. He was the first Chinese mathematician to calculate =3.1416
with his algorithm. He discovered the usage of Cavalieri's principle to find an accurate
formula for the volume of a cylinder, and also developed elements of the integral and
the differential calculus during the 3rd century CE.

Zu Chongzhi meanwhile introduced the Da Ming Li. This calendar was
specifically calculated to predict many cosmological cycles that will occur in a period of
time. He used Liu Hui's pi-algorithm applied to a 12288-gon and obtained a value of pi
to 7 accurate decimal, which would remain the most accurate approximation of
available for the next 900 years. His work, Zhui Shu was discarded out of the syllabus of
mathematics during the Song dynasty and lost. Many believed that Zhui Shu contains
the formulas and methods for linear, matrix algebra, algorithm for calculating the value
of , formula for the volume of the sphere. The text should also associate with his
astronomical methods of interpolation, which would contain knowledge, similar to our
modern mathematics.

The book Sunzi Mathematical Classic was dated around 400 CE. It contained the
most detailed step by step description of multiplication and division algorithm with
counting rods. Another text from that period is the Zhang Quijian Suanjing, this b ook
discussed linear and quadratic equations. By this point the Chinese had the concept of
negative numbers.

When the Period of Disunity ended, there were three dynasties that ruled after
but the studies of their mathematics were unclear. When the Tang Dynasty ruled in 618
AD the study of mathematics was fairly standard in the great schools. The Ten
Computational Canons was a collection of ten Chinese mathematical works, compiled
by early Tang dynasty mathematician Li, as the official mathematical texts for imperial
examinations in mathematics. Wang Xiaotong was a great mathematician in the
beginning of the Tang Dynasty, and he wrote a book: Jigu Suanjing, in which cubic
equations appear for the first time. It was also during those thimes that foreign
knowledge started influencing China. The table sines by the Indian mathematician,
Aryabhata, were translated into the Chinese mathematical book of the Kaiyuan
Zhanjing, compiled in 718 AD during the Tang Dynasty. Although the Chinese excelled
in other fields of mathematics such as solid geometry, binomial theorem, and complex
algebraic formulas,early forms of trigonometry were not as widely appreciated as in the
contemporary Indian and Islamic mathematics. I-Xing, the mathematician and Buddhist
monk was credited for calculating the tangent table. Instead, the early Chinese used an
empirical substitute known as chong cha, while practical use of plane trigonometry in
using the sine, the tangent, and the secant were known.

The Ancient Chinese reached another great height of their mathematics during
the Song and Yuan Dynasty. Four outstanding mathematicians arose during the Song
Dynasty and Yuan Dynasty, particularly in the twelfth and thirteenth centuries: Yang
Hui, Qin Jiushao, Li Zhi and Zhu Shijie. Yang Hui, Qin Jiushao, Zhu Shijie all used the
Horner-Ruffini method six hundred years earlier to solve certain types of simultaneous
equations, roots, quadratic, cubic, and quartic equations. Yang Hui was also the first
person in history to discover and prove "Pascal's Triangle", along with its binomial proof.
Li Zhi on the other hand, investigated on a form of algebraic geometry based on Tian
yuan shu. His book; Ceyuan haijing revolutionized the idea of inscribing a circle into
triangles, by turning this geometry problem by algebra instead of the traditional method
of using Pythagorean Theorem. Guo Shoujing of this era also worked on spherical
trigonometry for precise astronomical calculations. At this point of mathematical history,
a lot of modern western mathematics was already discovered by Chinese
mathematicians. Things grew quiet for a time until the thirteenth century Renaissance of
Chinese math. This saw Chinese mathematicians solving equations with methods
Europe would not know until the eighteenth century. The high point of this era came
with Zhu Shijie's two books Suanxue qimeng and the Siyuan yujian. In one case he
reportedly gave a method equivalent to Gauss's pivotal condensation.

The invention of compass was also during the reign of Song dynasty. Shen Kou
is famous for discovering the concept of true north and magnetic declination towards the
North Pole by calculating a more accurate measurement of the astronomical meridian,
and fixed the calculated position of the pole star that had shifted over the centuries. This
allowed sailors to navigate the seas more accurately with the magnetic needle
compass, also first described by him.
Su Song, a political rival by Shen Kou was most famous for his hydraulic-
powered astronomical clock tower, crowned with a mechanically driven armillary
sphere, which was erected in the capital city of Kaifeng in the year 1088. It employed
the escapement mechanism two centuries before it was applied in clocks of Europe. It
was also known as the earliest endless power-transmitting chain drive in the world.

Their civil engineering was advanced in the Song Dynasty. During the Song
dynasty that the pound lock was first invented in 984 by the Assistant Commissioner of
Transport for Huainan, the engineer Qiao Weiyo. The sluice gate, canal lock, and flash
lock were also developed then. Even today, a canal lock system in modern France was
fashioned after the pound lock system developed during the Song dynasty.

The Ancient Chinese as I have observed, did not study things such as atom or
molecules, in other words things that does not apply to them. The Chinese are
incredibly practical and all their studies are applied to their buildings, agriculture and
betterment of their lives.






















References

Belford-Clarke co. 1890. p. 5826. Retrieved 2011-07-01.Americanized
Encyclopdia Britannica: Rev. and Amended A Dictionary of Arts, Sciences and
Literature, to which is Added Biographies of Living Subjects. 96 Colored Maps
and Numerous Illustrations

Yoshio Mikami, The Development of Mathematics in China and Japan

www-groups.dcs.st-and.ac.uk/~history/HistTopics/Chinese_overview.html

www.psupress.org/books/titles/0-271-01238-2.html

Needham, Joseph (1986). Science and Civilization in China: Volume 3,
Mathematics and the Sciences of the Heavens and the Earth.