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Cheng Dawei
Merchant-family scholar from Xiuning who wrote the Suanfa Tongzong, an abacus arithmetic with 595 problems.
In a calculation room, a wide table holds a board of black and yellow counting rods laid in neat bundles, beside an abacus, a ruler and a sheet with a circle divided into equal parts; one person sits at a far desk with their back turned, and terraced fields lie outside.
Also known as Zi Rusi · Hao Binqu
- Roles
- Mathematician
Cheng Dawei (1533–1606), courtesy name Rusi and sobriquet Binqu, was born in Xiuning County in Nanzhili, from a merchant family. His trade led him to study mathematics, and he bought arithmetic books at a high price; he later took over his father's business and travelled in the Wu and Chu regions. At about the age of sixty he wrote the Suanfa Tongzong, which holds 595 problems and works as a general arithmetic for the abacus. His former home still stands in Tunxi, and an abacus museum occupies his ancestral hall.
Life and times
- 1533Born
Ming - 1606Died