Liu Hui
| Liu Hui | |
|---|---|
| Mathematician of Cao Wei | |
| Born | c. 225 Zibo, Shandong |
| Died | c. 295 |
| Liu Hui | |||||||||
| Traditional Chinese | 劉徽 | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Simplified Chinese | 刘徽 | ||||||||
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| Transcriptions | |
|---|---|
| Standard Mandarin | |
| Hanyu Pinyin | Liú Huī |
| IPA | [ljǒu xwéi] |
Liu Hui (fl. 3rd century AD) was an Ancient Chinese mathematician. He lived in the state of Cao Wei during the Three Kingdoms period of Chinese history. In 263, he edited and published a book with solutions to mathematical problems presented in the famous Chinese book of mathematics known as The Nine Chapters on the Mathematical Art.
He was a descendant of the Marquis of Zixiang of the Han dynasty, corresponding to current Zixiang township of Shandong province. He completed his commentary to the Nine Chapters in the year 263.
He probably visited Luoyang, and measured the sun's shadow.
Along with Zu Chongzhi (429–500), Liu Hui was known as one of the greatest mathematicians of ancient China. Liu Hui expressed all of his mathematical results in the form of decimal fractions (using metrological units), yet the later Yang Hui (c. 1238-1298 AD) expressed his mathematical results in full decimal expressions.
Liu provided commentary on a mathematical proof of a theorem identical to the Pythagorean theorem. Liu called the figure of the drawn diagram for the theorem the "diagram giving the relations between the hypotenuse and the sum and difference of the other two sides whereby one can find the unknown from the known".
In the field of plane areas and solid figures, Liu Hui was one of the greatest contributors to empirical solid geometry. For example, he found that a wedge with rectangular base and both sides sloping could be broken down into a pyramid and a tetrahedral wedge. He also found that a wedge with trapezoid base and both sides sloping could be made to give two tetrahedral wedges separated by a pyramid. In his commentaries on the Nine Chapters, he presented:
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