Tian yuan shu

Tian yuan shu (simplified Chinese: 天元术; traditional Chinese: 天元術; pinyin: tiān yuán shù) is a special way of solving math problems called polynomial equations, which are a type of algebra problem. It was developed by Chinese mathematicians and is a part of algebra. Some of the oldest writings about this method date back to the 13th century during the Yuan dynasty.

Even though the earliest writings are from that time, people knew about this method earlier, during the Song dynasty. This shows that Chinese mathematicians were very clever and good at solving complex math problems many years ago. The tian yu shu method helped them find answers to equations that were hard to solve with the math they had at that time.

History

The Tianyuanshu was explained in the writings of Zhu Shijie (Jade Mirror of the Four Unknowns) and Li Zhi (Ceyuan haijing), two Chinese mathematicians during the Mongol Yuan dynasty. Their work helped develop new ways to solve math problems.

Later, when a new dynasty took over, their ideas were not used much. But in modern times, people in China started to study these old methods again. The tianyuanshu also traveled to Japan, where it influenced the growth of Japanese math in the 1600s and 1700s.

Description

Tian yuan shu means "method of the heavenly element" or "technique of the celestial unknown". The "heavenly element" is the unknown variable, usually written x in modern notation.

It is a system that uses rod numerals to show polynomial equations. For example, 2_x_² + 18_x_ − 316 = 0 is shown in a special way. The line with the unknown x shows 18_x_, the line below shows the constant number (-316), and the line above shows the coefficient of the quadratic term (x²). This system can handle very high exponents of the unknown by adding more lines above or below.