学术资讯｜“若海讲坛”系列讲座第二十八讲：丝路上的“零”——中国与印度数学之间相互影响再思

题目

Zero on the Silk Roads — China’s Encounter with Indian Mathematics or vice versa?

丝路上的“零”——中国与印度数学之间相互影响再思

主讲

麦文彪 博士

香港弘立书院中华研究中心总监

香港大学饶宗颐学术馆院士

剑桥李约瑟研究所研究员

主办单位

党委办公室

承办单位

国际翻译学院

哲学系（珠海）

“一带一路”研究院

时间

2024年3月29日 下午15:00-18:00

地点

中山大学珠海校区

海琴六号A230

讲座简介

This lecture examines some long-standing controversies concerning the relationship between Indian and Chinese mathematics. The impact of the Indian invention of zero and place-value numerals has on the Islamic world and Europe has long been recognised by Western scholars. Evidences from Dunhuang and other Chinese sources suggest that China’s encounter with Indian mathematics did take place during the first millennium CE but much less is known about the Indian reception of Chinese mathematics. The Indian zero, known variably as śūnya, bindu, etc., and numerals were known in China by the second half of the first millennium. First full description is found in the astral compendium Jiuzhi li 九执历 composed by Qutan Xida (*Gautamasiddhārtha) 瞿昙悉达 in the first quarter of the eighth century CE. However, these new symbols had no apparent impact to the Chinese until the thirteenth century, when the circular symbol for zero was adopted in rod-numeral computation in Chinese mathematical texts. On the other hand, the tradition of Chinese rod-numeral computation and techniques of solving mathematical problems as exemplified in works such as the Nine Chapters on the Mathematical Art (Jiuzhang suanshu 九章算术, 10th–2nd century BCE) predates all the extant Indian sources. This leads historians such as Qian Baocong to claim that mathematical concepts such as decimal place-value system, arithmetic operation, expression of fraction, negatives, pi, and a whole array of algebraic techniques found in later Indian mathematical texts were inspired by, if not adopted from, their Chinese counterparts. Such claims were made not only on the ground of chronological priority, but also due to the fact that Indian mathematics prior to the Silk-Road contact had a very different outlook.

本讲座探讨有关印度数学与中国数学之间的一些长期争议。 早期西方学者注意到印度“零”和位值数字对伊斯兰世界和欧洲的影响。 敦煌和汉籍材料显示，南北朝以来汉人已经接触到印度数学。 反之，中国数学对印度的影响有多深，我们则了解甚少。 印度的零，梵文称作śūnya、bindu等，以及其他印度数字，在公元八世纪瞿昙悉达的《九执历》已有详细记载。 然而，直到元代，这些数字的概念才略露影响，圆形的零符号首次出现在汉文的算术著作。 另一方面，中国的算筹和像《九章算术》（公元前10世纪至公元前2世纪）的传统算法，年代都比印度现存的资料要早多个世纪。 因此，钱宝琮等学者认为，公元五世纪后印度数学著作中的十进制位值系统、算术运算、分数表示、负数、圆周率以及各种算数技巧等，都是受到了中国算数的启发，甚至直接采用。 这些主张不仅是基于文献年代的关系，还由于在丝路接触之前，吠陀时代的印度数学内容与本质跟后来的明显不一致。

主讲人简介

麦文彪博士，香港弘立书院中华研究中心总监，兼任香港大学饶宗颐学术馆院士、剑桥李约瑟研究所研究员。 加拿大麦吉尔大学语言学系荣誉学士毕业，主修梵语及亚洲语言，香港大学佛学硕士，北京大学外国语学院印度语言文学博士。 麦博士历任德国汉堡大学佛学研究中心研究员、香港大学佛学研究中心客座讲师、日本京都大学东洋科学史副教授。 研究领域包括梵语古籍、古代中印文化交流史与古代东方科学史。