A Study On The Middle School Mathematics Textbooks In The Late Qing Dynasty When The New School System Was Enforced

The modernization of mathematics education in China began at the late stage of Qing Dynasty when the curriculum reform took place frequently,and many high-evalued textbooks of mathematics were produced during that time. What characteristics do these textbooks present? Could they be useful for reference on the writing of Mathematics textbook in the middle school today? These questions are worth studying.Using research tools of literature method, content analysis, case study and comparison method, this study would like to inverstigate the characteristics that Arithmetic textbooks, Algebra textbooks, Geometry textbooks and Trigonometry textbooks in the middle school produced during the late stage of Qing Dynasty present.These Arithmetic textbooks, Algebra textbooks, Geometry textbooks and Trigonometry textbooks were mainly translated from Mathematics textbooks of Japan, were written horizontally and mostly adopt the Arabia digitals and Es characters. Besides, these different textbooks are of almost the same contents.The contents of Arithmetic textbook just refer to the Rational number, and focus on both Arithmetic operations and Calculation principles.The textbook contains much about the real life, and many exemplifications are used to deeper students’ understanding about the mathematical conceptions and principles. There are large number of exercises in the textbook and these exercises are highly required.The Algebra textbooks mainly focus on the algebraic expressions and equations and do not contain the contents about functions and inequations. Many algorithms and theorems are proved rigourly in the book, and it pays more attention to the Arithmetic knowledge more than the use of the knowledge in real life. A large number of exemplifications are used to deeper students’ understanding about the mathematical conceptions and principles, and types are abundant. Besides, there are many exercises in the textbook and these exercises are highly required.The contents of the Geometry textbooks mainly come from "Elements of Geometry", so the textbook concerns on the logical reasoning much. The exercises of it require detailed solving process and most of them are pure mathematical type.The Trigonometry textbook contains the contents of trigonometric ratio of acute triangle and arbitrary angle that is similar to the textbooks today. The book adopts the system of degree measure and concerns on the different methods of logical reasoning. The exercises of it require detailed solving process and most of them are pure mathematical type.Finally, based on the research conclusion above, the author proposed several suggestions that could be useful for reference on the writing of Mathematics textbook in the middle school today.