A Classic from China: The Nine Chapters - References / Reader Challenge

References

Lĭ Yăn and Dù Shírán, Chinese Mathematics: A Concise History, trans. John N. Crossley and Anthony W.-C. Lun (Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press, 1987).

Needham, Joseph, Science and Civilization in China, Vol. 3, “Mathematics and the Sciences of the Heavens and the Earth” (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1959).

Shen Kangshen, John N. Crossley and Anthony W.-C. Lun, The Nine Chapters on the Mathematical Art: Companion and Commentary (Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press, 1999).

Related Article in Convergence:

Illustrating the Nine Chapters on the Mathematical Art: Their Use in a College Mathematics History Classroom, by Joel K. Haack

Reader Challenge: Students Explore the Nine Chapters from China

We were pleased when the article “A Classic from China: The Nine Chapters” (The Right Angle, October 2008) was greeted with praise from many different mathematics instructors. They and their students really got into the Reader Challenge: to solve the 10 selected story problems from this ancient Chinese manuscript that were presented in the article.

Thirteen students, enrolled in a variety of mathematics courses at Schoolcraft College, submitted responses to our Challenge. Seven of these students are represented in the solution set available for download (pdf) here. (Editor's note: In Convergence, these students are identified only by their first names.)