Xu Yue, whose literary name is Gonghe, was a native of Donglai (in present Ye District, Shandong Province). Very little is known of his background except that he was a follower of Liu Hong, an eminent mathematician and calendar expert of the second century. He studied mathematics and astronomy under Liu Hong and had frequent discussions with him and the Astronomer‐Royal of the Astronomical Bureau on matters pertaining to calendrical astronomy. He was said to have written a commentary on the Jiuzhang Suanshu (Nine Chapters on Mathematical Art) and a mathematical text known as Shu Shu Ji Yi (Memoir on Some Traditions of Mathematical Art) around AD 190. The commentary had long been lost while the Shu Shu Ji Yi was handed down with a commentary written by Zhen Luan (fl. AD 570). There are a number of Buddhist references in Zhen Luan's commentary.
The Shu Shu Ji Yiwas written in a terse and obscure style, tinged with Daoism and divination. Xu Yue mentioned that the mathematics he learnt...
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References
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Se, A.T. (2008). Xu Yue. In: Selin, H. (eds) Encyclopaedia of the History of Science, Technology, and Medicine in Non-Western Cultures. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4020-4425-0_9083
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