Resumen

The author discusses the earliest extant Chinese mathematical treatises, Jiu zhang suan shu九章算術 (Computational procedures of nine categories), compiled no later than the first century AD, and three recently unearthed mathematical texts, Suan shu shu筭數書 (Scripture on computations [to be performed] with counting rods), Shu 數 (Numerical [procedures (?)]), and Suan shu算術 ([Computational] Procedures [to be performed with] Counting Rods), all dated of the late first millennium BC. The main question addressed in the review is that of the origin and early history of the Jiu zhang suan shu. Some modern historians suggested that this treatise was considered a “canonical” text by its commentator of the third century, Liu Hui劉徽 (fl. AD 263). The author suggests that this claim is based solely on one phrase found in the commentator’s preface. Instead, the recent findings suggest that a number of mathematical texts were produced, copied and studied in China from the 3rd century BC onwards, and none of them had the status of a “canonical scripture”; these texts, the author suggests, most likely were used for educational purposes.