• Journal for History of Mathematics
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• v.25 no.3
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• pp.1-14
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• 2012

Since JiuZhang SuanShu(九章算術), the basic field of the traditional mathemtics in Eastern Asia is the field of rational numbers and hence irrational solutions of equations should be replaced by rational approximations. Thus approximate solutions of equations became a very important subject in theory of equations. We first investigate the history of approximate solutions in Chinese sources and then compare them with those in Chosun mathematics. The theory of approximate solutions in Chosun has been established in SanHakWonBon(算學原本) written by Park Yul(1621 - 1668) and JuSeoGwanGyun(籌書管見, 1718) by Cho Tae Gu(趙泰耉, 1660-1723). We show that unlike the Chinese counterpart, Park and Cho were concerned with errors of approximate solutions and tried to find better approximate solutions.