• Journal for History of Mathematics
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• v.27 no.4
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• pp.259-269
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• 2014

In China and Joseon, the measurement of the areas of various plane figures is a very important subject for mathematical officials because it is connected directly with tax problems. Most of mathematical texts in China and Joseon contained Chinese character '田', which means a field for farming, in title name for parts that dealt with problems of areas and treated as areas of plane figures. The form of mathematical texts in Joseon is identical with those in China because mathematicians in Joseon referred to texts in China. Gyeong SeonJing and Hong JeongHa also referred to Chinese texts. But they added their interpretations or investigated new methods for the measurement of areas. In this paper, we investigate the history of the measurement of areas in Joseon, which described in two books MukSaJibSanBeob and GuIlJib, with comparing some mathematical texts in China.

• Journal for History of Mathematics
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• v.27 no.2
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• pp.101-110
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• 2014

Joseon is mainly an agricultural country and its main source of national revenue is the farmland tax. Since the beginning of the Joseon dynasty, the assessment and taxation of agricultural land became one of the most important subjects in the national administration. Consequently, the measurement of fields, or the area of various plane figures and curved surfaces is a very much important topic for mathematical officials. Consequently Joseon mathematicians were concerned about the volumes of solids more for those of granaries than those of earthworks. The area and volume together with surveying have been main geometrical subjects in Joseon mathematics as well. In this paper we discuss the history of volumes of solids in Joseon mathematics and the influences of Chinese mathematics on the subject.

• Korea journal of population studies
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• v.18 no.2
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• pp.51-69
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• 1995

The Swedish welfare state has been the model for others to emulate the archetypical example of state intervention. The state interventions are presented in the form of legal acts. These social welfare acts can be classified according to the demographic transition theory. According to the Bogue's theory, the demographic transition in Sweden took place in four stages : the pre-transitional stage before 1810; the early transitional stage from 1810 to 1860; the mid-transitional stage from 1860 to 1930; the late transitional stage from 1930 to now. As we look into the social welfare acts in Sweden, the relief of the poor was the major concern of the early transitional stage, the care of workers was the major concerns of the mid-transitional stage and the care of the families was the major concerns in the late transitional stage. The Korea's transition period can be devided as follows; the pre-transitional stage before 1960; the early transitional stage from 1960 to 1969; the mid-transitional stage from 1970 to 1987; and the late transitional stage from 1987 to now. In Korea, the major concern of the early transitional stage was the care of the officials and the workers; in the mid-transitional stage the care of the aged and the handicapped were the major concerns. And in the late transitional stage the expanding of the welfare clients was the major concern. If we compare the results of both countries, the relief of the poor, the care of the workers and the care of the families will be the major concerns in Korea, because the social welfare acts in Korea are extended to specific groups and not to the whole population. The acts related to these social issues have been arranged in 120 years in Sweden. But Korea had to do the same work in 27 years. So the burden of making those social acts will be four times heavier. If we want to extend the benefits of the social system to the general population, we need to look at the design and approach of the swedish model. The reason why swedish social acts constitute an international model has more to do with the uniqueness of its design and approach. First of all, it is characteristic by its universalism, secondly by its emphasis on social services and thirdly by its productivitism. Also the swedish welfare state supported by a high-tax system called the earnings-related welfare system. In order to achieve an effective welfare state, we Koreans should pay attention to the relief of the poor, the care of the worker and the families. We should also focus on a good system design and prepare appropriate budgets.