Mathematics in the Joseon farmland tax systems
Hong, Sung Sa;Hong, Young Hee;Kim, Chang Il 65
https://doi.org/10.14477/jhm.2015.28.2.065 PDF KSCI
The Joseon dynasty (1392-1910) is basically an agricultural country and therefore, the main source of her national revenue is the farmland tax. Thus the farmland tax system becomes the most important state affair. The 4th king Sejong establishes an office for a new law of the tax in 1443 and adopts the farmland tax system in 1444 which is legalized in Gyeongguk Daejeon (1469), the complete code of law of the dynasty. The law was amended in the 19th king Sukjong era. Jo Tae-gu mentioned the new system in his book Juseo Gwan-gyeon (1718) which is also included in Sok Daejeon (1744). Investigating the mathematical structures of the two systems, we show that the systems involve various aspects of mathematics and that the systems are the most precise applications of mathematics in the Joseon dynasty.
Mathematical work of CHOI Seok-Jeong(崔錫鼎) and LEE Se-Gu(李世龜)
Lee, Sang-Gu;Lee, Jae Hwa 73
In this paper, we give answers to some interesting questions about a Confucian scholar and mathematician in the late Joseon Dynasty, CHOI Seok-Jeong(崔錫鼎, 1646-1715), who was inducted into the Science and Technology Hall of Fame (http://kast.or.kr/HALL) for his mathematical achievements in October, 2013. In particular, we discover that CHOI Seok-Jeong was able to devote his natural abilities and time to do research on mathematics, and that he frequently communicated with his friend and fellow scholar, LEE Se-Gu(李世龜, 1646-1700), who was an expert on the astronomical calendar and mathematics, based on at least 24 letters between the two.
A Historical Overview of Elliptic Curves
Koh, Youngmee;Ree, Sangwook 85
Elliptic curves are a common theme among various fields of mathematics, such as number theory, algebraic geometry, complex analysis, cryptography, and mathematical physics. In the history of elliptic curves, we can find number theoretic problems on the one hand, and complex function theoretic ones on the other. The elliptic curve theory is a synthesis of those two indeed. As an overview of the history of elliptic curves, we survey the Diophantine equations of 3rd degree and the congruent number problem as some of number theoretic trails of elliptic curves. We discuss elliptic integrals and elliptic functions, from which we get a glimpse of idea where the name 'elliptic curve' came from. We explain how the solution of Diophantine equations of 3rd degree and elliptic functions are related. Finally we outline the BSD conjecture, one of the 7 millennium problems proposed by the Clay Math Institute, as an important problem concerning elliptic curves.
On the Development of Differential Geometry from mid 19C to early 20C by Christoffel, Ricci and Levi-Civita
Won, Dae Yeon 103
Contemporary differential geometry owes much to the theory of connections on the bundles over manifolds. In this paper, following the work of Gauss on surfaces in 3 dimensional space and the work of Riemann on the curvature tensors on general n dimensional Riemannian manifolds, we will investigate how differential geometry had been developed from mid 19th century to early 20th century through lives and mathematical works of Christoffel, Ricci-Curbastro and Levi-Civita. Christoffel coined the Christoffel symbol and Ricci used the Christoffel symbol to define the notion of covariant derivative. Levi-Civita completed the theory of absolute differential calculus with Ricci and discovered geometric meaning of covariant derivative as parallel transport.