In the middle of the 20th century, the famous British scholar Joseph Needham proposed in his "History of Science and Technology in China": "Ancient China made many important contributions to the development of human science and technology, but why did the scientific and industrial revolution not take place in modern China?" This is known as the famous "Needham's Question."
Ancient China had brilliant scientific and technological achievements and its own unique characteristics in mathematics, which was reflected in Qin Jiushao's mathematical masterpiece "Nine Chapters of Arithmetic".
Different from the theoretical system of Western mathematics, Qin Jiushao's mathematics is based on the mathematics of daily life, as can be seen from the name, the "Nine Chapters of Arithmetic" emphasizes arithmetic, and the content is also application-oriented, covering astronomy, astrology, calendar, weather measurement, river channels, water conservancy, architecture, transportation, various geometric figures and volumes, qiangu, enlistment, market, yali calculation and mutual exchange, etc., known as the "treasure book of calculation".
The Nine Chapters of the Book of Numbers, completed by Qin Jiushao during his filial piety for his mother from 1244 to 1247, consists of 9 chapters and 18 volumes, with more than 200,000 words. The topics are divided into 9 categories: Da Yan Class, Tianshi Class, Field Domain Class, Survey Class, Enlistment Class, Qiangu Class, Construction Class, Military Service Class, Municipal Objects Class, each class 9 questions, a total of 81 questions, covering all aspects of life. Among them, the Great Yan Qiu Yi Shu (Chinese Residual Theorem), the Three Oblique Product Technique and the Qin Jiushao Algorithm (numerical method of the positive root of higher-order equations) are brilliant pages in the history of Chinese mathematics and even the history of world mathematics, and have had a wide impact on the development of mathematics in later generations.
Qin Jiushao (1208-1268), a famous mathematician of the Southern Song Dynasty, together with Li Ye, Yang Hui, and Zhu Shijie, was known as the four masters of mathematics in the Song and Yuan dynasties. Han Chinese, whose ancestral home was Fan County, Henan, was born in Anyue County, Ziyang City in 1208, and successively served as the prefect of Qiongzhou and Si Nongcheng, but was later degraded and died in February 1268 in Meizhou. He attained an official position roughly equivalent to that of a bureau.
Qin Jiushao Memorial Hall of Anyue County
Qinjiushao Square, Anyue County
In the field of modern Western scientific history, only Qin Jiushao is a famous ancient Chinese mathematician. Qin Jiushao's main achievement in mathematics was to systematically summarize and develop the numerical solution method of higher-order equations and the one-time congruence solution method, and put forward a fairly complete "positive and negative opening technique" and "great derivation and one technique", reaching the highest level of mathematics in the world at that time. The "Great Yan Qiu Yi Shu" predates Gauss's theory of congruence established in 1801 and is praised as the "Chinese surplus theorem." ”。
The organic combination of its mathematical research "to be intended for use" and "exploring the hidden and knowing the origin" serves the country, society and the people. Qin Jiushao's classic thesis that "the transmission of counting is based on reality" and "number and Tao are not two books" is the crystallization and sublimation of this experience.
The famous American historian of science, Sutton, called Qin Jiushao: "His people, his time, and indeed one of the greatest mathematicians of all times." Lu Xinyuan, a famous mathematician of the Qing Dynasty, praised: "Qin Jiushao can pay attention to absolute learning when the whole world does not talk about algorithms, and cannot be said to be a non-heroic person." ” The famous German historian of mathematics M. Cantor spoke highly of the Great Yan Qiu Yi Technique, praising the Chinese mathematicians who discovered the algorithm as "the luckiest genius."
Qin Jiushao in the literature, talented and innovative, is recognized as a "great mathematician", but there are two very different versions of life. In one version, he is concerned about the national economy and the people's livelihood, perceives the sufferings of the people, advocates benevolent government, supports and participates in the anti-Jin and anti-Mongolian struggles; in the other version, he is versatile, but he is also keen on being an official and lustful, arrogant and lascivious.
Qin Jiushao was born into a family of official eunuchs. His grandfather, Qin Zhenshun Shaoxing, served as a 30-year-old scholar and the first, and his father, Qin Jiliang, served as the Taishou of Bazhong, but later fled to Lin'an, the capital of the Southern Song Dynasty, due to rebellion, and served as an official such as Langzhong of the Ministry of Works and the secretary of the Young Supervisor. Grandmothers and mothers are also bridesmaids.
Qin Jiushao was talented, and with the help of his father, he read a large number of classical books, got acquainted with talents who were familiar with astronomical calendars, arithmetic, architecture and other aspects of knowledge, learned poetry and song endowments, and could ride horses, archery, dance swords, kick and bow, and was a wizard of both literature and martial arts.
"Jiu Shao is stupid and does not idle in art. However, in his early years, he was a servant of Zhongdu, because he had to visit Taishi, and he also tasted mathematics from the hidden gentleman. - Prologue to the Nine Chapters of the Book of Numbers
In 1225, he accompanied his father to Tongchuan (潼川, in present-day Santai County, Sichuan), where the Southern Song court established civilian armies due to repeated violations of the border by yuan forces. Qin Jiushao, who knew all the troops, served as the leader of the civilian armed forces and maintained local law and order.
In 1236, yuan soldiers invaded Sichuan, and Tongchuan was no longer able to settle down, so he went out of Sichuan again, successively serving as a general judge of Pu prefecture (蕲州, in modern Puchun, Hubei) and hezhou (present-day Hexian County, Anhui), and finally settled in Huzhou (present-day Wuxing, Zhejiang).
In July 1261, Qin Jiushao was appointed as the military governor of Meizhou (梅州, in modern Meizhou, Guangdong).
He died in Meizhou in March 1268.
Evil version of Qin Jiushao
During his tenure in Huzhou, he was also the place where he was most criticized, mainly in the elaborate "Sequel to The Miscellaneous Knowledge of Yan Xin" and the "Notes on the Army of The Nine Shaoshao of The Qin Dynasty" in Liu Kezhuang's collection.
"It was only a hundred days before the county (Qiongzhou) arrived, and the people of the county were tired of their greed and violence, and they cried and sang songs to hurry up" - Liu Kezhuang "Unkind, unrighteous, unfilial, incorruptible" - Liu Kezhuang "After a few months in the county, the boycott returns, and the wealth is very rich" - meticulous
In these records, Qin Jiushao's lust for profit, his eyes will be rewarded, his heart is fierce, his fish and flesh are common, his reputation is notorious, he is extravagant and lavish, and he has an unexpected pursuit and unscrupulous means for power and officialdom.
In terms of collecting money, he took advantage of his position to buy salt at a low price and forcibly sold it to the people at a high price, so as to make huge profits from it.
In terms of life enjoyment, life is luxurious, and the degree of use is not calculated, not only built a very luxurious villa for himself, but also raised another house to raise some singers.
In terms of fierceness, he learned that his subordinate's son was cursing him. He devised three schemes of killing (poisoning, stabbing with a sword, drowning with water) to his subordinates, asking him to kill his own son. His subordinates naturally refused, but they were forced by Qin Jiuzhao's official authority, so they could only take advantage of the middle of the night and his son to quietly die in the end of the world.
As for Jing Wei, when he and his concubine were playing in the courtyard, they were accidentally bumped into by the servants of the family who fetched water. Feeling that his privacy had been violated, he fabricated evidence to accuse his servants of stealing. After investigating the facts, the magistrate of Huzhou found that this was not the case, so he did not deal with the servants according to Qin Jiushao's request. Qin Jiushao hated this local official so much that he developed poison himself and wanted to poison this local official, but fortunately he did not succeed.
Good version of Qin Jiushao
In the version of the good, he is a very different person: never avoiding the world, heroically resisting the enemy, fighting against lawless businessmen, strong and inferior gentry, managing floods, and serving the country, society and people with his knowledge.
In November 1236, when the Yuan army invaded Puzhou, Zhang Ke of Zhizhou abandoned the city and served as Qin Jiushao, who had been sentenced to puzhou for less than a year, to lead the Shucheng generals to cooperate with Meng Jue to reclaim Puzhou, adjust the deployment, rectify military discipline, and behead 49 rebels who collaborated with the enemy.
In July 1237, Qin Jiushao was in charge of the affairs of the state army and state, rectifying illegal traders and various powerful and inferior gentry, cracking down on bullying and hegemony, and ensuring the daily life of the people.
In June 1238, he resigned from his post at Hezhou and went to the banks of the Xixi River in Lin'an and built the Xixi Bridge for the convenience of the citizens.
In 1256, at the invitation of Wu Qian, he was invited to clean up the Yashan Weir (which together with Dujiangyan, Zhengguoqu and Lingqu were called the four famous water conservancy projects in ancient China), preventing seawater from pouring into the Yashanyan water system and ensuring that the people could drink water.
Good and evil are evaluated for a reason
After the nineteenth century, the famous mathematical historians Jiao Xun, Yu Songnian, Lu Xinyuan, Wu Wenjun, Guo Shuchun, Zhou Hanguang, etc., re-established the argument based on historical materials, and Qin Jiushao's ancient grievances were clarified. He was not only a mathematician who made outstanding contributions to the research and application of mathematics, but also an upright official who resisted foreign enemies and paid attention to the people's livelihood.
Qin Jiushao's bad comments mainly stemmed from the environment of his time. Throughout his life, he was in a period of frequent wars in the Song Dynasty, and the wars between the Song Jin and the Song and Mongolia were continuous, and the Southern Song Dynasty also tended to perish. Qin Jiushao's life was extremely unstable, but he was not willing to be lonely.
In the midst of national disasters and chaos, in times of political corruption and darkness, the internal struggle of the Ruling Clique of the Southern Song Dynasty was concentrated between the capitulation faction Jia Xiangdao and the anti-war faction Wu Qian. Qin Jiushao belonged to the Wu Qian clique of the Anti-Japanese Faction. Later, Jia Rudao took control of the military and political power, Wu Qian was deposed and degraded, and Qin Jiushao was implicated as a member of Wu Qian's party.
For the same thing, people from different strata or different groups will look at the problem from different perspectives and come to completely different conclusions. Zhou Mi and Liu Kezhuang belonged to the same faction of Jia Xiangdao, and were political enemies with Qin Jiushao. The accusations of political enemies cannot be easily trusted.
Using the records of political opponents as a basis for judging a person lacks objectivity and impartiality. In the absence of sufficient information, we would rather be suspicious than to be distrustful.
From the perspective of historical development, Qin Jiushao is a milestone in the history of the development of Chinese mathematics, and his contribution to mathematics is huge and indelible. The "Nine Chapters of Mathematics" created by him has not only been recognized by the world, but also become an important reference for historians to study the socio-economic and cultural life of the Southern Song Dynasty.