传教士韦烈亚力当年翻译《九章算术》罂文原汁原味部分条目展示【方田卷中文原文】今有田广十五步，从十六步。问为田几何？答曰：一亩。又有田广十二步，从十四步。问为田几何？答曰：一百六十八步。方田术曰：广从步数相乘，得积步。以二百四十步为一亩。百亩为一顷。【韦氏1852年原文】We have a field 15 pu in breadth, 16 pu in length. What is its area?Answer: one mu.Another field is 12 pu broad, 14 pu long.Answer: one hundred and sixty-eight square pu.Rule for rectangular fields: Multiply the breadth and the length together, we get the number of square pu.Two hundred and forty pu make one mu. One hundred mu form one ching.【方田卷中文】今有田广一里，从一里。问为田几何？答曰：三顷七十五亩。里田术曰：广从里数相乘，再以三百七十五乘之，得亩数。【韦氏1852年原文】A field is 1 li broad and 1 li long. What is the area?Answer: three ching and seventy-five mu.Rule for land measured by li: Multiply the two sides in li, then multiply the product by 375, and we obtain the number of mu.【勾股卷中文原文】 今有句三尺，股四尺，问为弦几何？ 答曰：五尺。 句股术曰：句股各自乘，并而开方除之，即弦。【韦氏1852年原文】 We have a kou of 3 chih, a ku of 4 chih. What is the length of the hsien? Answer: 5 chih. Rule: Square the kou, square the ku. Add the two products together, extract the square root, that gives the hsien.【中文原文】 今有弦五尺，句三尺，问为股几何？ 答曰：四尺。 术曰：股自乘，以减弦自乘，其余开方除之，即股。【韦氏1852年原文】 Given hsien 5 chih, kou 3 chih, find the ku. Answer: 4 chih. Rule: Subtract the square of the kou from the square of the hsien, then take the square root of the remainder.【中文原文】 今有股四尺，弦五尺，问为句几何？ 答曰：三尺。 术曰：句自乘，以减弦自乘，其余开方除之，即句。【韦氏1852年原文】Given ku 4 chih, hsien 5 chih, find the kou. Answer: 3 chih. Rule: Subtract the square of the ku from the square of the hsien, extract the square root of the remainder.【中文原文】 今有圆材，径二尺五寸，欲为方版，厚七寸。问广几何？ 答曰：二尺四寸。 术曰：令径自乘，以厚自乘减之，余开方，即广。【韦氏1852年原文】 A round beam has a diameter of 2 chih 5 tsun. We cut it into a square plank 7 tsun thick. What is its breadth? Answer: 2 chih 4 tsun. Rule: Square the diameter, subtract the square of the thickness, take the square root of the remainder.【中文原文】 今有邑方不知大小，各中开门。出北门三十步有木，出西门七百五十步见木。问邑方几何？ 答曰：一里。【韦氏1852年原文】 A square city has gates at the middle of each wall. Thirty pu outside the north gate stands a tree. If one walks 750 pu westward from the west gate, the tree comes into sight. Find the side length of the city wall. Answer: one li.【中文原文】 今有圆材埋在壁中，不知大小。以锯锯之，深一寸，锯道长一尺。问径几何？ 答曰：二尺六寸。【韦氏1852年原文】A round timber is built into a wall, its size unknown. We make a cut 1 tsun deep, and the length of the cut is 1 chih. What is the diameter of the timber? Answer: 2 chih 6 tsun. 说明： 1.译文来自于1852年罂国伦敦会刊物North China Herald（《北华捷报》） 篇目：Jottings on the Science of the Chinese. Arithmetic （《中国数学科学札记》）刊发时间：1852 年第一版，为原始文稿。句式简短，为报刊随笔文体，无额外学术注解。 2.几何名词纯中文音译：kou（句）、ku（股）、hsien（弦），当年还无 斜边hypotenuse 等西式术语。 3.长度面积单位当年全部采用汉字音译：步 =pu，尺 =chih，寸 =tsun，全程不用 foot、inch（后来再版改了）。