关于“四不等田”的一点注记

The Note on Computation of Quadrilateral with Sides Different from Each Other

分析了《中国科学技术典籍通汇》本中《杨辉算法》的一个注记 ,得出结论 :这个注记应写于明代刊刻之时 ,从而得出两个推论 :1.中国古代数学的“中断”应由元末 ( 130 3)推迟到明初 ( 1378或 14 31) ;2 .中国古代数学界是十分重视并进行学术交流的 .

This paper analyses the note on computation of quadrilateral with sides different from each other in the book 《Yang Hui Suan Fa(杨辉算法)》 from the <Collections of works about science and technology in the ancient China>,and reaches a conclusion that this note was written in the time when the book <Yang Hui Suan Fa> was published in Ming Dynasty. From the conclusion this paper draws two inferences: one is that the ancient Chinese mathematics broke off not after 1303 as being said,but after 1378 or after 1431;the other one is that the ancient Chinese mathematicians studied not in isolation as being said,but drawing on each other's study.