 Although a special case of the Chinese remainder theorem had already been described in the Chinese book "Sunzi Suanjing", the general solution was published by Qin Jiushao in his 1247 book "Shushu Jiuzhang" (數書九章 "Mathematical Treatise in Nine Sections").The Euclidean algorithm was first described "numerically" and popularized in Europe in the second edition of Bachet's "Problèmes plaisants et délectables" ("Pleasant and enjoyable problems", 1624).In Europe, it was likewise used to solve Diophantine equations and in developing continued fractions.