Mathematics
Li added corrections to certain mathematical works. Examples of this are in Nine Chapters on the Mathematical Art by Liu Hui. He demonstrated that the least common multiple of the numbers two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine, ten, eleven, and twelve was 27720, the answer was flawed in the original text. Yet another instance of this was in Zu Geng's work about the area of a sphere. Li gave 22/7 (3.1428571428571428571428571428571) instead of three as a better approximation of what we know now as pi. He began each annotation with the words “Your servant, Chunfeng, and his collaborators comment respectfully on…” Li did write some mathematical works of his own, little is known about them. They are usually dismissed as unimportant in comparison to his other accomplishments. With Liang Shu and Wang Zhenru, he wrote Shibu Suanjing (十部算经) in 656. These were ten mathematical manuals submitted to the emperor.
Read more about this topic: Li Chunfeng
Famous quotes containing the word mathematics:
“In mathematics he was greater
Than Tycho Brahe, or Erra Pater:
For he, by geometric scale,
Could take the size of pots of ale;
Resolve, by sines and tangents straight,
If bread and butter wanted weight;
And wisely tell what hour o’ th’ day
The clock doth strike, by algebra.”
—Samuel Butler (1612–1680)
“It is a monstrous thing to force a child to learn Latin or Greek or mathematics on the ground that they are an indispensable gymnastic for the mental powers. It would be monstrous even if it were true.”
—George Bernard Shaw (1856–1950)