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Zu Chongzhi (祖冲之, pinyin Zǔ Chongzhi, Wade-Giles Tsu Ch'ung-chih) ( 429- 500) was a Chinese mathematician and astronomer during the Song and Qi Dynasties (of the Southern Dynasties).His ancestors hailed from Qiu district, Fanyang commandry (today in Laiyuan county, Hebei province). To flee from the ravages of war, Zu Chongzhi's grandfather Zu Chang moved from Hebei, in north China, to south of the Yangtze River, as part of the massive population movement during the Eastern Jin Dynasty. Zu Chang at one point held the position of "Minister of Great Works" (Dàjiàngqin) within the Song Dynasty (420-479) and was in charge of government construction projects. Zu Chongzhi's father also served the court and was greatly respected for his erudition.
Zu Chongzhi was born in 429 in Jiankang (today Nanjing). His family had historically been involved in astronomy research, and from when he was a child Zu Chongzhi was exposed both to astronomy and to mathematics. When he was only a youth his talent earned him much repute. When Emperor Xiaowu heard of him, he was sent to an Academy, the "Huálín Xuésheng", to perform research. In 461 in Nanxu (today ZhenjiangZhenjiang is a city in the eastern Jiangsu province of China. It is an important transportation centre because it is located in the interesction of along the Yangtze River and the Grand Canal. Population: 1,280,027. Once known as Jinjiang ( formerly trans in JiangsuJiangsu ( Simplified Chinese: , Traditional: , Hanyu Pinyin: Jingsu, Wade-Giles: Chiang-su, Postal System Pinyin: Kiangsu is a province of the People's Republic of China, located along the east coast of the country. The name "Jiangsu" comes from Jiang, sh) he was engaged in work at the office of the local governor.
His achievements included the Daming calendar introduced in 465Events Song Qian Fei Di, then Song Ming Di become ruler of the Song Dynasty in China. Basiliscus becomes a consul in the Eastern Roman Empire. Peter the Fuller becomes Patriarch of Antioch. Births Procopius of Gaza, rhetorician Deaths Northern Wei Wen Che and deriving two approximations of piOr pi with a lower-case p . minuscule, or lower-case, pi The mathematical constant (written as pi when the Greek letter is not available) is ubiquitous in mathematics and physics. In Euclidean plane geometry, π may be defined as either the ratio of a c, 355/113 (密率, Milu) and 22/7 (约率, Yuelu).
Zu Chongzhi Zu Chongzhi
Zu Chongzhi
