Was Pythagoras Chinese? - To Revisit the Ancient Chinese’s Contribution in Mathematics

 

As the author mentioned in the end of the article, due to geographic isolation, Chinese scholars’ work and their contribution in mathematics has been ignored for centuries.  It worth our efforts to recognize and give credits for their brilliant and astounding discovery.  I do see the value of acknowledging the non-European source of mathematics in our students’ learning.  By doing so, our students will not only grasp the mathematical concepts we convey, but also will have a comparable knowledge in terms of where the mathematical theory comes from.  I think who was the real inventor of a certain mathematical theorem is not the point for us to introduce non-European source of mathematics, our focus should be how to shape our students’ perspectives and to have a holistic point of view on every subject they encounter, it could be math, history, or any other subjects.  That is the ideal model of democratic education, which is to create independent and critical thinkers.   

I have done some research in one of my previous blog posts about the naming of Pythagorean Theorem.  I learned that although the theorem was named after him, Pythagoras was actually not famous for his mathematical contribution, rather for his expertise on the fate of the soul after death and religious ritual.  There was no formal record that accounted he was the actual creator of Pythagoras Theorem, according to Stanford Encyclopedia.  To my amazement, once again, I found that before Pascal’s time, there were several scholars have discovered the secret of triangular array or binomial coefficients.  It was Pascal who innovated these previous unattested uses of the numbers and offered a systemic study on this subject.  The same mathematical concept was studied by Chinese mathematician Jia Xian and presented by Yang Hui in the 13^th century as well, and it was named as Yang Hui’s Triangle.  No matter which mathematician took the credit for a certain mathematical discovery, it reflects our ancestors diligent work in progressing and developing the subject of mathematics. We should be acknowledged and be appreciative for all their contribution in our human advancement.