Mathematical Treatise in Nine Sections

The mathematical text has a wide range of topics and is taken from all aspects of the society of that time, including agriculture, astronomy, water conservancy, urban layout, construction engineering, surveying, taxation, armament, military and so on.

Apart from describing Chinese Remainder Theorem for the first time and providing a constructive proof for it, the text investigated: Like many traditional Chinese mathematical works, the text reflects a Confucian administrator's concern with more practical mathematical problems, like calendrical, mensural, and fiscal problems.

The text existed in manuscript form in 1247, it was incorporated into The Yongle Encyclopedia in 1421; in 1787 the book was collected into the Complete Library of the Four Treasuries, in 1842 appeared in woodblock printed edition.

The 19th century British Protestant Christian missionary Alexander Wylie in his article Jottings on the Sciences of Chinese Mathematics published in North China Herald 1852, was the first person to introduce Mathematical Treatise in Nine Sections to the West.

In 1971 Belgian sinologist Ulrich Libbrecht published his doctorate dissertation, Chinese Mathematics in the Thirteenth Century, which earned him a degree cum laude at Leiden University.