A Comparative Study Of The Editions And Contents Of Charles Smith’s Algebra

Charles Smith’s Elementary Algebra and Charles Smith’s A Treatise on Algebra are called Charles Smith’s Algebra together.The former is the basis of learning the latter,and the latter is the sublimation of the former in content.Charles Smith’s Algebraic textbook was introduced to Japan by translators such as Nagasawa Kamezuki and then translated by Chinese scholars studying in Japan and sent back to China.It was an Algebraic textbook with great influence in modern China.This research adopts literature method,history method,comparative analysis,through the literature first clarify Charles Smith algebra of the existing research mainly focus on small Charlie Smith algebra edition,content,characteristic,research focused on the teaching materials on the algebra symbols,terms,content,characteristics,so the propagation process of Charles Smith algebra is relatively lacking.After that,I went to Sichuan Library,Chengdu Library,Chongqing Library and other places to search for materials,and collected materials through online visits to Cambridge University Library,University of California Library,National Diet Library of Japan,Confucius Second-hand Bookstore and Ancient Books Network.With the help of my tutor,I learned Japanese and collected,sorted out and analyzed more than 190 books in total,among which there were 16 English books,69 Japanese books and 30 Chinese books on the algebra of Charles Smith.On this basis,this paper,from the perspective of edition theory,sorts out and compares the changes in the Chinese,British and Japanese editions of Charles Smith’s works on algebra,in order to find the process of its introduction into China.Through a comparative study of the content between Chen Wen’s translation and the algebraic translation of the late Qing Dynasty,this paper analyzes the characteristics of some contents in the algebra of Charles Smith translated by Chen Wen.The specific work is as follows:(1)The edition study of Charles Smith’s Algebra:covers the edition study of Charles Smith’s Elementary Algebra and Charles Smith’s A Treatise on Algebra.Firstly,the content of each translation is interpreted to determine the basis of the study.Then the study object of each version is determined by the evolution of the Chinese version,the original English version and the Japanese version.Further comparison of the contents,knowledge points,exercises to determine the Chinese version of the corresponding Japanese version and the English original,and then get the dissemination process and situation.(2)There is translation and translation the contents of the comparative study of the algebra: in late qing dynasty to Charles Smith algebra as the breakthrough point,a greater influence on the choice,there is translation of representative and close period,algebra and algebra textbook "generation but","the algebra for purport" are compared,and the content from the term translation,symbol,define three dimensions in launching a yuan quadratic equation,the determinant,the binomial theorem of the project,to get there translation characteristics in the three aspects of content.Through the comparative study of the editions and contents of Charles Smith’s algebra textbooks,we can enrich the study of the process of modernization and localization of Chinese modern algebra textbooks,and it is of great significance to understand the early development of the algebra textbooks introduced into China.