Person: Yue, Xu

Xu Yue was a Chinese mathematician who wrote a commentary of the Nine Chapters on the Mathematical Art.

Xu Yue was a pupil of Liu Hong and he studied mathematics under the famous calendar expert.
Liu Hong worked at the Imperial Observatory and it was there that Xu Yue held discussions with him and also with the head of the Astronomical Bureau.
It was natural, therefore that Xu Yue would gain expertise from these men in astronomy and calendar science.
It is reported that Xu Yue wrote a commentary on the Nine Chapters on the Mathematical Art.
This preceded the major commentary written by Liu Hui in the second half of the third century, and it would appear that Liu Hui commented on a version of the text which did not include Xu Yue's comments.
As a result Xu Yue's commentary has not come down to us.
Whether Xu Yue wrote the Shushu jiyi (Notes on Traditions of Arithmetic Methods) is uncertain.
Finally, Xu Yue talks about calculations of the nine balls.

Born about 160, Donglai, Shandong province, China. Died about 227, China.

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Ancient Chinese, Astronomy, Chinese, Origin China

Thank you to the contributors under CC BY-SA 4.0!

O’Connor, John J; Robertson, Edmund F: MacTutor History of Mathematics Archive