纳贝尔筹在中国的传播与发展

THE DIFFUSION AND DEVELOPMENT OFNAPIER'S BONES IN CHINA

意大利传教士罗雅谷在其《筹算》（１６２８年）一书中向中国介绍了纳贝尔筹。该筹后经方中通、梅文鼎等人的介绍与修改，曾在学者中间广为流传。清代有关纳贝尔筹的作品甚多，并有康熙年间的纳贝尔筹实物和使用纳贝尔筹的原始计算机保存至今。该文在介绍了纳贝尔设计的原筹和罗雅谷的作品的基础之上，研究了纳氏筹在中国的流传与发展情况。

The bones or rods of Napier were introduced into China by the ltalian miasion- ary Jacques Rho ( 1593-1638 ) not long after the publication of Napier,s Ra&doJo.la in 1 61 7. To introduce Napier,s bones , Rho wrote in 1 628 a book in Chinese titled R.dofb.a which was published first in 1 645. The bones had been diffused in China since they were introduced again and modified by Chinese mathematicians Fang Zhongtong and Mei Wending in 1673 and 1687 separately. There were a lot of works describing and studying Napier,s bones in the Qing Dynasty. Napier,s bones in both Rho,s and Mei Wending,s styles and computing ma- chines with the bones made during the reign of Emperor Kangxi ( 1 662-1 82 1 ) are now pre- served in the Palace Museum in Eeijing. This paper analyses and compares the works of Jacques Rho and some Chinese scholars t8 study the diffusion and development of Napier,s bones in China.