Homework reading and response for Wednesday: Crest of the Peacock introduction

One thing that surprised me was definitely China's place in the history of mathematics. One theorem that I remember from undergrad is the Chinese Remainder Theorem: 

which I have never really thought about historically. Upon further research, an early version of this theorem appeared in the math text Sunzi Suanjing, written approximately between the 3rd - 5th centuries CE. The actual text gives a problem involves a number that has different remainders when divided by 3, 5, 7, and provides a method of finding the solution:

It is pretty cool that a "modern" math theorem that I learned from university can be traced back to my home country more than 1500 years ago!

Another thing that surprised me was how important researchers in the Islamic world were. The book explains that mathematic ideas were combined from Greek, Indian, and Persian traditions, where Baghdad actually became a central hub for learning math in the world. 

Lastly, the book points out that historians should not assume that two civilizations using similar mathematics mean that they borrowed / stole (?) the idea from each other. The actual development of the same mathematic idea could have happened in multiple places, and evidence of contact or translation must be found before making a conclusion of "civilization xxx borrowed set theory from civilization yyy"

Research: https://mathshistory.st-andrews.ac.uk/HistTopics/Ten_classics