Zu Geng's principle and volume of the sphere
Principio de Zu Geng y volumen de la esfera
- Date
- c. 500 · confidence medium
- Place
- Jiankang (Nanjing), Jiangsu, China
- Credited to
- Zu Gengzhi (son of Zu Chongzhi)
- People
- 👤 Zu Gengzhi480–525
- Field
- Knowledge & symbols
What was discovered
If two solids have sections of equal area at every height, their volumes are equal. With this principle Zu Geng obtained the exact formula for the volume of a sphere, completing Liu Hui's work.
Equivalent to Cavalieri's principle (1635), formulated in Europe more than a thousand years later.
What it led to
- calculation of volumes by cross-sections