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新編算學啟蒙/總括

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Text ID
KR3fc020
Date
1660–1839
Dynasty
元

Xīnbiān suànxué qǐméng / Zǒngkuò 新編算學啟蒙/總括

Newly-Edited Introduction to Mathematical Studies, with Summary Tables by 朱世傑 (撰) — original, with annotations and zǒngkuò (summary tables) by 羅士琳 (附釋)

About the work

The Cháoxiǎn / Korean recension of 朱世傑 Zhū Shìjié’s KR3fc016 Suànxué qǐméng (1299), as re-imported to China and re-edited by 羅士琳 Luó Shìlín with the appended zǒngkuò 總括 (summary-table) commentary. The recension’s transmission history is the principal documentary record of the Korean intermediary preservation of pre-modern Chinese mathematical works.

Abstract

Zhū Shìjié’s Suànxué qǐméng — the elementary companion to the Sìyuán yùjiàn — was lost in China from the late Míng but preserved in Korea as one of the principal texts of the Chosŏn-state sàn-hak mathematical curriculum. The 1660 Cháoxiǎn imprint, prepared under royal sponsorship, is the principal Korean recension; its text differs in minor respects from the Chinese Yuán original (mostly orthographic, with some sub-juàn re-division), and it is the source for the Japanese Edo-period wasan 和算 reception of Sòng-Yuán mathematics.

羅士琳 Luó Shìlín, working in the Dàoguāng decades alongside his major project on the KR3fc017 Sìyuán yùjiàn, recovered the 1660 Korean recension via the same Yángzhōu / Korean documentary channels and prepared an annotated re-edition with the appended zǒngkuò 總括 (summary-tables) — i.e., tabular presentations of the mathematical content of each chapter, with cross-references to the Sòng-Yuán algebraic tradition that Luó was simultaneously recovering through the Sìyuán commentary. The catalog records the extent as 8 juàn, reflecting the 3 juàn of the Qǐméng proper plus 5 juàn of Luó’s zǒngkuò appendix.

The work is one of the principal documentary records of the late-imperial Chinese awareness of the Korean intermediary preservation of lost Sòng-Yuán mathematical works — alongside the parallel recoveries of Yáng Huī’s KR3fc010 Yáng Huī suànfǎ and KR3fc011 Xiángjiě jiǔzhāng suànfǎ via Korean recensions. The pattern shows the substantial role of the Korean Chosŏn-state mathematical curriculum in preserving the Yuán-period algebraic and pedagogical tradition that the Chinese late-imperial mainstream had abandoned in favor of practical-mathematical / abacus pedagogy.

The catalog placement under Yuán dynasty reflects the substantive content (Zhū Shìjié’s Yuán Qǐméng); the recovery and supplementary apparatus are clearly Qīng (Luó Shìlín, 1830s–40s).

Translations and research

Reminder: AI generated list - beware of hallucinations. Corrections and additions welcome

  • Lam Lay-Yong. 1979. “Chu Shih-Chieh’s Suan-hsüeh ch’i-meng 算學啟蒙 (Introduction to Mathematical Studies).” Archive for History of Exact Sciences 21: 1–31. — Standard English treatment; uses the 1660 Korean / Luó Shìlín line.
  • Horiuchi Annick. 1994. Les mathématiques japonaises à l’époque d’Edo (1600–1868). Paris: Vrin. — Discusses the Japanese reception of the work via the Korean recension.
  • Jami, Catherine, and Yann Sordet, eds. 2017. La Chine entre intérêts et savoirs: Recherches franco-coréennes. Paris.
  • Wú Wénjùn 吳文俊, ed. 1985. Zhōng-guó shù-xué shǐ dà-xì 中國數學史大系, vol. 6.

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