Zhu Shijie's method of four unknowns
Método de los cuatro elementos de Zhu Shijie
- Date
- 1303 · confidence high
- Place
- Yangzhou, Jiangsu, China
- Credited to
- Zhu Shijie (Siyuan yujian)
- People
- 👤 Zhu Shijie1249–1314
- Field
- Knowledge & symbols
What was discovered
It extends tian yuan algebra to systems of up to four unknowns, eliminated successively on a two-dimensional board, and sums finite series of higher order. It is the pinnacle of medieval Chinese algebra.
The work was lost in China and recovered in the 19th century through Korean copies.
What it led to
- elimination in polynomial systems
- summation of higher-order arithmetic series