Chinese archaeologists discover country`s most ancient mathematics document

Zee Media Bureau

Beijing: Chinese archaeologists claimed to have discovered the country`s most ancient mathematics document dating back over 2,200 years. The announcement was made on Tuesday. The document consists of of inscriptions on bamboo sheets from the Warring States period between 475-221 B.C., which explains methods of multiplying number lower than 100. The document also talks about certain fractions, Li Xueqin, a specialist in ancient documents at Beijing`s Tsinghua University, told Xinhua. According to the director of the Chinese Society of the History of Mathematics, Guo Shuchun, the document is the only one that has been found with studies of exact sciences before China`s first historical dynasty, the Qin between 221-206 B.C. The knowledge inscribed on the bamboo sheets “was very advanced for the world at that time and is an important discovery in the mathematical history of China and even the world,” Guo added. Experts discovered the document in a collection of 2,500 bamboo sheets acquired by Tsinghua University in July 2008, which had previously been taken out of the country illegally. With Agency inputs