A Problem from History Nine Chapters on the Mathematical Art

There are problems from history that can serve today’s secondary mathematicians well. One such problem comes from The Nine Chapters on the Mathematical Art, written in the 3rd C. AD. It is as important a mathematical source as Euclid’s compilation, Elements. Where Elements influenced Western mathematics, Nine Chapters influenced the mathematics of China. It serves as a rich source of contextual problems to challenge today’s young mathematicians.

Excerpts can be found in Google books among other places. This problem is from Chapter 9, Problem 20. The accompanying power point has facilitation notes.

This resource includes a PDF with a description, the Nine Chapters Problem, and PDF of PowerPoint.

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