Li Shanlan

Called Li Shanlan, also Renshu, (* 1811 in Haining, † 1882 in China) was a Chinese mathematician. He is regarded as the most important Chinese mathematician of the 19th century.

Li Shanlan came from a distinguished family and was educated as his brother Li Xinmei, who was also a mathematician, taught by a private tutor, the famous philologist Chen Huan ( 1786-1863 ). Through the study of classical Chinese mathematics book nine books on mathematical art ( Jiu Zhang SuanShu ), he became interested in mathematics interessieren.Bald it he studied the elements of Euclid in Chinese translation and an algebra book by Li Ye (Li Zhi ) and trigonometry Book of Dai Zhen ( 1724-1777 ). In order to pursue his mathematical studies further he took in 1845 to a position as a private tutor. To escape the turmoil of the Taiping Rebellion in 1852 he went to Shanghai. There he met the British missionary Alexander Wylie, for which he translated into Chinese mathematical works, for example, an Analysis textbook by Elias Loomis, published in 1859, the first analysis textbook in Chinese. He also translated with Wylie the last nine chapters of Euclid's Elements ( first books published already in 1607 in a translation by Matteo Ricci and Xu Guangqi ). With the missionary Joseph Edkins (1823-1905), he translated a mechanics textbook by William Whewell (published in 1867) and he also translated the algebra of Augustus De Morgan and the Outlines of Astronomy by John Herschel and a botany book.

Around 1860 he left Shanghai and worked for the governor of Jiangsu Province Xu Youren ( 1800-1860 ), who was a gifted amateur mathematician, and then for the general Zeng Guofan and his brother, who were involved in the suppression of the Taiping Rebellion. With their support, the mathematical works of Li in 1867 in Nanjing appeared. From 1866 he was a lecturer at a state school founded in 1863 for Western languages ​​in Beijing ( Tongwen Guan ). In 1869, he was Professor of Mathematics. He taught there not only Western mathematics, but also by the Chinese classics and in his mathematical publications, for example, via analysis ( for example, infinite series, logarithms ) and Combinatorics he was linked to the Chinese tradition. Many of the mathematical expressions used today in China come from him.

A formula of combinatorics ( summation formula for binomial coefficients ) is named after him. It was known in the West about the Hungarian mathematician George Szekeres, as this was in Shanghai as a political refugee in 1937 and this letter Pal Turan told, in 1954 published a proof. The Chinese mathematician Zhang Yong (1911-1939), learned about the Szekeres of the formula, published in 1939 a proof.