Mathematician:Zu Chongzhi

Mathematician

Prominent Chinese mathematician and astronomer.

Derived the most accurate approximation for $\pi$ for over nine hundred years.

Credited (along with Zu Geng) with proving the volume of the sphere using the same principle as Bonaventura Francesco Cavalieri.

Father of Zu Geng.

Nationality

Chinese

History

• Born: 429, Jiankang, (now Nanking, Kiangsu province), China
• Died: 501, China

Theorems and Definitions

• The Zu Chongzhi Fraction $\dfrac {355} {113}$ for pi.

Writings

• Zhui Shu ("Method of Interpolation") (now lost)

Also known as

Simplified Chinese: 祖冲之

Traditional Chinese: 祖冲之

Pinyin: Zǔ Chōngzhī

Wade–Giles: Tsu Ch'ung-chih

Courtesy name Wenyuan (文遠)

Sources

• John J. O'Connor and Edmund F. Robertson: "Zu Chongzhi": MacTutor History of Mathematics archive

• 1986: David Wells: Curious and Interesting Numbers ... (previous) ... (next): A List of Mathematicians in Chronological Sequence
• 1997: David Wells: Curious and Interesting Numbers (2nd ed.) ... (previous) ... (next): A List of Mathematicians in Chronological Sequence
• 1998: David Nelson: The Penguin Dictionary of Mathematics (2nd ed.) ... (previous) ... (next): Tsu Chung Chi
• 1998: David Nelson: The Penguin Dictionary of Mathematics (2nd ed.) ... (previous) ... (next): Zhu Chongzhi (Tsu Chung Chi) (ad 429-500)
• 2008: David Nelson: The Penguin Dictionary of Mathematics (4th ed.) ... (previous) ... (next): Tsu Chung Chi
• 2008: David Nelson: The Penguin Dictionary of Mathematics (4th ed.) ... (previous) ... (next): Zhu Chongzhi (Tsu Chung Chi) (ad 429-500)