![]() ![]() In that case Wang Ling's dating will only establish when part of the text was written, some possibly being earlier, while other parts probably have been written later. Of course this dating assumes that the text was written as a whole, while it seems more likely that it was compiled, like many of the texts, from older sources. A new scale between chih and tuan was established in 474 AD the Sunzi, still using the old scale by Wu Ch'en-Shih's emendation, cannot be older than 473 AD. ![]() So the book could not have been written before this date. These two were first established in 280 AD. The Sunzi suanjing mentions the mein as an item of taxation, and the hu tiao system. Wang Ling seems to have the most convincing argument:. L E Dickson, the American number theorist, claimed in 1919 that the Sunzi suanjing was written in the first century AD. In more recent times Alexander Wylie, the expert on China who worked with the London Missionary Society in Shanghai for many years, states in a text published in 1897 that:-ĭuring the third century Sun Zi, an author of considerable note, published his Sunzi suanjing. Indeed such studies did take place and Dai Zhen, an 18 th century scholar, historian and mathematician, stated that it was impossible for the Sunzi suanjing to have been written before about 50 BC. He placed Sun Zi around 250 BC but knew that there was still problems with this dating which he said would have to be studied later. The Ruan Yuan in his Chouren zhuan or Biographies of astronomers and mathematicians (1799) certainly realised that references in certain problems in the Sunzi suanjing meant that the identification with Sun Wu was incorrect. In the 17 th century Sun Zi was identified with Sun Wu, a famous military expert of the sixth century BC who wrote Sun Zi's art of war. ![]() Let us first look at the various theories about the date. Dating this is made more difficult since it is not known how much the text was changed or added to over time. Biography Nothing is known about Sun Zi except his text Sunzi suanjing (Sun Zi's Mathematical Manual ). ![]()
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