南宋数学书所记南海贸易品——以《数书九章》之《均货推本》为中心

The“South China Sea”trade goods recorded in the Southern Song’s mathematical books:centered on the chapter“To Count the Costs of Goods”in Mathematical Treatise in Nine Chapters

到了宋朝,作为海外贸易发展的一个证据,南宋时人秦九韶著有《数书九章》一书,书里出现了两道与海外贸易有关的题目,这在以前的数学书中是从未出现过的。第一道题的内容是求沉香、乳香及玳瑁的价格;第二道题求的是集资贸易时的利润分配。本文主要讨论第二道题,对当时集资贸易的方法,通过数字的记载,作了详尽的讨论。当然,《数学九章》中尚有一些问题有待解决:一是沉香的利润过薄,是否单位的记载有错误?二是胡椒数量很大,是否与当时的需求量大有关?不过,马可·波罗曾惊叹杭州胡椒使用量之巨大,估计南宋时期胡椒开始大量使用也是事实。

As evidence of the growing foreign trade in the Song Dynasties, Qin Jiushao(1208-1268), a mathematician in the Southern Song Dynasty,wrote a book titled Mathematical Treatise in Nine Chapters(shushu jiuzhang). There are two questions on foreign trade, which had never been seen in previous mathematical books.One is to calculate the prices of Lignum Aquilariae Resinatum, frankincense and Eretmochelys imbricata. Second is about how to divide the profit from an overseas trade with joint investments. The article focuses on the second, and discusses in detail on the methods through which trade with joint investments was carried out based on the numbers recorded in the book. Of course, there are questions to be answered: 1) the profit from Lignum Aquilariae Resinatum is too little, are there any errors in the record of the unit? 2) is the large amount of peppers related to the high demand at that time? Marco Polo once marveled at the huge amount of peppers consumed in Hangzhou.Maybe, it is true that peppers began to be used in great amount in the dynasty.