Nine Chapters of Arithmetic

"Nine Chapters of Arithmetic" is the "first of the arithmetic classics" in applied mathematics in the history of human science. It is also the masterpiece of ancient Chinese algorithms. It is also a masterpiece that is ranked as one of the two major mathematical systems in the world along with "Elements of Geometry". The book collects a total of 246 mathematical problems and provides their solutions. These algorithms are more than 1,500 years earlier than similar European algorithms and have had an important impact on the development of world mathematics. "Nine Chapters on Arithmetic" first proposed the concept of positive and negative numbers. In particular, the introduction of the concept of negative numbers is a major leap in human understanding of numbers. In India, the concept of negative numbers did not appear until the 7th century; in Europe, 1,000 years later than India, no one proposed the concept of negative numbers until the 17th century. "Nine Chapters on Arithmetic" proposes the "over-deficit technique", that is, using two assumptions, the general equation can be turned into an over-deficient problem and solved by the "over-deficit technique". This solution was not introduced to Europe by the Arabs until the 13th century, and was called the "Khitan algorithm" (i. E. "Chinese algorithm") by Europeans. "Nine Chapters on Arithmetic" was the first to systematically describe the reduction, general decomposition and four arithmetic operations of fractions. It was also the first to propose the concept of "linear equations" and systematically summarized its algorithm.