伟烈亚力与中国数学史

ALEXANDER WYLIE AND THE HISTORY OF CHINESE MATHEMATICS

19世纪上半叶,西方学者对中国数学知之甚少。1852年,英国来华传教士、著名汉学家伟烈亚力第一次向西方全面介绍中国古代数学文献以及大衍术、开方术、天元术等中国数学成就,指出它们的世界意义,反驳当时西方学者对中国数学所普遍持有的错误观点,在西方产生了深远的影响。伟烈亚力成了西方中国数学史领域的开拓者。

In the first half of the 19th century,little was known about Chinese Mathematics in the West.In the thirties,the only mathematical treatise which the Western scholars knew had been written by a Chinese mathematician was Cheng Da wei's Suan Fa Tong Zong .In 1852,Alexander Wylie,a British Protestant missionary,fully introduced,for the first time,to the West the Chinese mathematical literature and achievements,including the place-value, Ta Yan Shu,Tian Yuan Shu ,and the method of solving numerical equations of all orders,pointing out their world significance,refuting the prevailing erroneous statements on Chinese mathematics in Western publications,exerting far reaching influence on the later Western historians of science.Wylie thus became the forerunner in the field of the history of Chinese mathematics in the West.