《数学游戏大观》:民国时期数学科普界的拓荒之作

A Grand Spectacle of Mathematical Games:Pioneering Work in the Field of Mathematical Popular Science during the Period of the Republic of China

数学科普读物作为数学知识普及、数学文化传播的主要途径具有很强的传承性,中国数学科普读物的崛起始于民国时期,而民国时期的数学科普巨匠陈怀书的代表作《数学游戏大观》是中国近代史上数学游戏专著的奠基之作,开启了图文并茂、引进世界名题之先河,为后人的研究提供了线索和思路,对中国数学科普事业的蓬勃发展及数学文化的广泛传播起到了牵引作用.在简要概述该著作的基础上,论述该著作的特点和历史地位,以此来纪念陈怀书先生,以期更多的数学专业与非数学专业的读者在数学文化的熏陶下进行再创造.

Popular science books on mathematics have a strong tradition as the main way of popularizing mathematical knowledge and spreading mathematical culture.During the period of the Republic of China,mathematical popular science books were beginning to develop rapidly in China.The book A Grand Spectacle of Mathematical Games,written by the great master of mathematical popular science Chen Huai-shu,is a foundational monograph on mathematical games in Chinese modern history during the period of the Republic of China.This book introduced world-famous mathematical problems with a variety of pictures and provided study clues or thoughts for later researchers.It also promoted the popularization of Chinese mathematics and the wide spread of mathematics culture.Based on a brief overview of this work,this paper expounds the characteristics and historical status of this work to commemorate Mr.Chen Huai-shu.It is expected that more and more mathematics majors and non-mathematics majors will get to recreate mathematics according to the historical development of mathematics.