Retrieving the Golden Needle, or Removing It? A Mathematical Correspondence in Mid-Sixteenth Century China

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<p>The correspondence between Tang Shunzhi 唐順之 (1507–1560) and Gu Yingxiang 顧応祥 (1483–1565) in mid-sixteenth century China illuminates their contrasting views on mathematics. While Tang worked to retrieve the hidden “golden needle” of the Shoushi 授時 astronomical system (composed in 1280), Gu removed from Li Ye’s 李冶 (1192–1279) Ceyuan haijing 測円海鏡 (1248) the parts most pertinent to Tang’s endeavors. To address the stark contrast, this article examines their own correspondence and several related texts. I show that Tang and Gu held radically different views on the meaning of numbers and calculations, and indeed on the very purpose of learning mathematics. I also review the discovery of the “tianyuan 天元 procedure” in the eighteenth century, which determined how Gu was finally regarded by historians of Chinese mathematics.</p>

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