Chinese Mathematics - Tang Mathematics

Tang Mathematics

By the Tang Dynasty 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 Chunfeng (李淳风 602-670),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 (Continuation of Ancient Mathematics), in which cubic equations appear for the first time

The Tibetans obtained their first knowledge of mathematics (arithmetic) from China during the reign of gNam-ri srong btsan, who died in 630.

The table of 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. However,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.

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