Ancient China Research Paper

There are many claims as to when mathematics first developed into a definite science. Both Mesopotamia and Egypt have strong and arguable claims to its originality. As to China we still do not know as to how early this ancient civilization first had a concept of mathematics, but most experts believe that China may have developed its understanding of mathematics independently due to the fact that the Chinese mathematics differed from other civilizations. Many of the mathematicians in ancient china paved the way for many of the concepts that we have today, and without the breakthroughs we would not have the current level of understanding that we do today. The findings from ancient China are also necessary for basic concepts such as solving equations,

The Chinese numbering system, which was developed by at least 2,000 B.C., used bamboo counting rods. In this process you would place them in a certain order to represent units 1 through 9. This decimal value system was noted as the first of its time. In establishing this system we are able to figure out complex equations much more quickly than before. Although advanced for its time, it had one flaw. There was not a zero which limited its usefulness. The abacus also known as the suanpan, “a counting device which was used for arithmetic operations”, was long thought to have originated in china but some references to its use have been seen in Mesopotamian, Egyptian and Greek culture. Another achievement in mathematics was the establishment of the magic squares or lo-Shu. It was written in a book called the I-king whose author is believed to be won-Wang, although experts are not entirely sure. The magic squares was once sought to be magical or spiritual, in which “the squares were written on the back of a tortoise and appeared to emperor Yu in 2,200 B.C.” (History of mathematics 29). The reason for the development of these mathematics was to meet the growing needs of the empire’s