Origins & Early Life

Zhu Shijie (simplified Chinese: 朱世杰; traditional Chinese: 朱世傑; pinyin: Zhū Shìjié; Wade–Giles: Chu Shih-chieh, 1249–1314), courtesy name Hanqing (漢卿), pseudonym Songting (松庭), was a Chinese mathematician and writer during the Yuan Dynasty. Zhu was born close to today's Beijing. Two of his mathematical works have survived: Introduction to Computational Studies (算學啓蒙 Suan-hsüeh Ch'i-mong) and Jade Mirror of the Four Unknowns (四元玉鑒 Ssŭ-yüan Yü-chien). The Suanxue Qimeng (算學啓蒙), written in 1299, is an elementary textbook on mathematics in three volumes, 20 chapters and 259 problems.

Pivotal Works & Achievements

This book also showed how to measure two-dimensional shapes and three-dimensional solids. The Introduction strongly influenced the development of mathematics in Japan. The book was once lost in China until the Qing dynasty mathematician Luo Shilin bought a Korean printed edition and republished it in Yangzhou. Zhu's second book, Jade Mirror of the Four Unknowns (1303) was his most important work, advancing Chinese algebra. The first four of the 288 solved problems illustrate his method of the four unknowns.

Enduring Legacy & Impact

He shows how to convert a problem stated...

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