| Researching Qin Jiushao (ca. 1202 -- 1261), a mathematician in Southern Song China, presents several difficulties for the historian. Qin Jiushao now suffers from a very controversial image in historiography due to the nature of our sources. This study presents a re-evaluation of existing sources and proposes that Qin's image should be rehabilitated. Qin's treatise, the Shushu jiuzhang, marks the beginning of the maturation of Chinese algebra, and as such, it has great mathematical and historical significance. Its influence was also apparent in Korea. Although there can be no question as to the importance of the Shushu jiuzhang in the history of Chinese mathematics and of mathematical development worldwide, it is difficult to explain why its influence remained almost nil for six centuries after it was completed. I will argue that one of the primary reasons was the lack of state support for mathematical education since the Southern Song dynasty. |
