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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 SòngYuán 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 SòngYuán 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 SòngYuán 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

  • 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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