On the myth of an ancient Chinese theorem about primality

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	On the myth of an ancient Chinese theorem about primality
	Han, Qi 1; Siu, Man-Keung 2
	2008-07-01
发表期刊	TAIWANESE JOURNAL OF MATHEMATICS
卷号	12 期号:4 页码:941-949
文章类型	Article
摘要	In the western world there is this myth that the ancient Chinese knew a special case of Fermat's Little Theorem and erroneously took it as a criterion for primality, namely, that n is a prime if and only if 2(n-1) - 1 is divisible by n. This article discusses how this myth might have come about, in particular tells the story of an investigation on number theory by Li Shanlan in the mid 19(th) century. The discussion touches upon the social history of the incident in connection with the polarized attitude different foreigners took towards Chinese mathematics at the time.
关键词	Carmichael Number Fermat's Little Theorem Li Shanlan
WOS标题词	Science & Technology ; Physical Sciences
收录类别	SCI
语种	英语
WOS研究方向	Mathematics
WOS类目	Mathematics
WOS记录号	WOS:000257574700008
引用统计	被引频次：1[WOS] [WOS记录] [WOS相关记录]
文献类型	期刊论文
条目标识符	http://ir.ihns.ac.cn/handle/311051/6559
专题	世界科技史
作者单位	1.Chinese Acad Sci, Inst Hist Nat Sci, Beijing, Peoples R China 2.Univ Hong Kong, Dept Math, Hong Kong, Hong Kong, Peoples R China
推荐引用方式 GB/T 7714	Han, Qi,Siu, Man-Keung. On the myth of an ancient Chinese theorem about primality[J]. TAIWANESE JOURNAL OF MATHEMATICS,2008,12(4):941-949.
APA	Han, Qi,&Siu, Man-Keung.(2008).On the myth of an ancient Chinese theorem about primality.TAIWANESE JOURNAL OF MATHEMATICS,12(4),941-949.
MLA	Han, Qi,et al."On the myth of an ancient Chinese theorem about primality".TAIWANESE JOURNAL OF MATHEMATICS 12.4(2008):941-949.