]ouma1 of Taiwan Norma1 University Humanities & Social Sciences
2005,50( I ),75-89
Procedural Aspects of Mathematical Knowledge
in the Suan Shu Shu
Wann-Sheng Homg
Department of Mathemati凶，National Taiwan Nonnal University
Abstract
In this article the author wiII explore the Suan Shu Shu in terms of the notion of procedural knowledge. In the past three decades, historians of Chinese mathematics have successfully adopted the term "algorithm" - a concept from computer science - to characterize some aspects of ancient Chinese mathematics. Thus we can now refer to research in mathematics education in order to enrich our historical understanding of ancient Chinese mathematics. In some sense, the study of mathematics and the study of the history of mathematics can benefit each other, and the same goes for studies of the history of mathematics and studies in mathematics education. Therefore, here 1 will first contrast proceduraI knowledge with conceptual knowledge and show the relevance of this contrast to studies in mathematical reasoning. By looking carefuIIy into the mode of presenting and solving problems in the Suan Shu Shu, 1 wiII then investigate how these problems can be explained in terms of procedural knowledge andlor Gray & Tall' s notion of the
