Rectangular Arrays in The Nine Chapters

Chinese mathematics developed independently from other ancient nation’s math,

innovating in ways that were not seen in the West until thousands of years later. One such
innovative concept introduced in The Nine Chapters on the Mathematical Art was their use of
rectangular arrays to solve for multiple unknowns across one problem. 
Rectangular arrays are organized tabular structures equivalent to modern matrices that
contain rows and columns numbers, where columns (or rows, depending on how the array is
oriented) contains coefficients corresponding to a certain class of variable. To clarify the
arrangement of a rectangular array with an example from The Nine Chapters:  Suppose that 5
cows and 2 sheep cost a total of 10 liang of silver. Suppose also that 3 cows and 6 sheep cost 9
liang of silver. A rectangular array representing this situation could be arranged as such:

3 cows 5 cows 3 2
5 cows + 2 sheep = 10
liang
3 cows + 6 sheep = 9 liang
→ 6
[
sheep
9 liang 10 liang ] [ ]
2 sheep = 6 5
9 10

In the array above, the numbers from the problem are now arranged vertically. Addition signs
can be inferred between the cows and sheep rows and equals signs can be inferred between the
sheep and liang rows. A common problem that would then be solved using these data would be
to calculate how much one of each animal costs in liang.
The methods for calculating one or two unknown values were discussed earlier in The
Nine Chapters. (cite here) These methods were not necessarily “innovative” when compared to
other region’s methods at that time and did not require the use of rectangular arrays. However,
rectangular arrays and their corresponding rules could be used for problems that required solving
for an arbitrarily large number of unknowns, a situation in which other methods became
intractable or impossible. (cite) The only things limiting the number of unknowns one could
solve for were time and space, since these problems were often laid out on trays with counting
rods and solved physically. All rectangular array problems make use of one main rule: The Array
Rule.
The Array Rule is the general procedure for solving for any number of unknowns in a
problem given data that can be organized into a rectangular array. In the Nine Chapters, these
unknowns are generally the cost or yield of one single item when you know only the total gained
from a large group of different types of items. Although no proof of the Array Rule is presented
in the Nine Chapters, it is applicable to arrays of any size and can be used for the entire category
of rectangular array problems. The rule’s explanation in the Nine Chapters uses an example
problem for context, and it is as follows:
“Three bundles of top-grade paddy, two bundles of medium-grade paddy, and one bundle
of low-grade paddy yield 39 dou of grain. Two bundles of top-grade paddy, three bundles
of medium-grade paddy, and one bundle of low-grade paddy, yield 34 dou. One bundle
of top-grade paddy, two bundles of medium-grade paddy, and three bundles of low-grade
paddy-yield 26 dou. Tell: how much paddy does one bundle of bundle of each grade
yield?”
L M R
top 1 2 3 0 0 3
3 top + 2 med + 1 low = 39 dou
2 top + 3 med + 1 low = 34 dou
1 top + 2 med + 1 low = 26 dou
→ med
low
dou
[ ][ ]
2 3 2 → 0 5 2
3 1 1
26 34 39
36 1 1
99 24 39

1. “Use [the number of bundles of] top

grade paddy in the right column to
multiply the middle column then merge.”

2. “Again multiply the next [and] follow

by pivoting.”
The rectangular array can be set up as above,
and the underlying goal of the Array Rule is to
3. “Then use the remainder of the
arrange the array into lower triangular medium grade paddy in the middle form,
meaning that all non-zero values column to multiply the left column and
pivot.”
(excluding the bottom row) are along or below the
main diagonal. The steps for the Array Rule, as
laid out in the Nine Chapters, are as follows:
 1 2 3

[ ]
2 3 2 3 M −2 R
3 1 1
26 34 39

1 0 3

[ ]
2 5 2 3 L−R
3 1 1
26 24 39

0 0 3

[ ]
4 5 2 5 L−4 M
8 1 1
39 24 39

0 0 3

[ ]
0 5 2
36 1 1
99 24 39

“Pivot” and “merge” are not explained in the original text, but Liu Hui’s commentary
substitutes these terms with “homogenize and uniformize.” This seems to be equivalent to
obtaining a common factor between two values in different columns with the goal of cancelling
out one of the values to zero. In step one, for example, we multiply the middle column by 3 and
subtract from it 2 times the right column. This allows the 3 in the top right to bring the 2 in the
middle column to 0 via subtraction, and this same process is repeated with different values and
columns until the matrix is in lower-triangular form.
Once the array is in lower triangular form, the Array Rule walks the reader through the
algebraic process of obtaining each individual grade’s yield:
top 0 0 3 4. “The remainder of the low-grade paddy
med
low
dou
[ ]
0 5 2
36 1 1
99 24 39
99
36 low=99 dou 1 low= dou
36
in the left column is the divisor, the entry
below is the dividend. The quotient is the
yield of the low-grade paddy.”

5. “To solve for the medium-grade, use the

divisor [of the left column] to multiply the
dou in the middle column then subtract
the value of the low-grade paddy”
 dou∗36 99 864 765 153
5 med+1 low=24 5 med+ dou= dou  5 med= dou 1 med= dou
36 36 36 36 36

6. “To solve for the top-grade paddy also

dou∗36
3 top+ 2med +1low =39 take the divisor to multiply the dou of the
36 right column then subtract the values of
the low grade and the medium grade
2∗153 99 1404
3 top+ dou+ dou= dou  paddy. Divide by the number of bundles of
36 36 36
top-grade paddy.”
999 333
3 top= dou 1 top= dou
36 36

Solving for the yield of one paddy is trivial if you know the number of paddies you have
and the total yield for all of these, and this is the basic principle upon which the algebraic portion
of the Array Rule hinges. We solve for one unknown using the value in the bottom corner of our
triangular portion then substitute this value into the column next to it, leaving only one unknown
in the column that you can easily solve for. This is repeated as you find more unknowns and until
you have solved for everything you are looking for. Using our array as an example, we found the

99
yield of 1 low-grade paddy to be , and we used this value to eliminate an unknown in all
36
subsequent calculations of paddy yield. In both the 5th and 6th steps, we are asked to “take the
divisor to multiply the dou” of some column. This means to obtain a common denominator of 36

36
by multiplying the dou on the right side by . This allows us to more easily subtract yield
36
values we have already found from the right side after substituting them in.
After walking through the math and now looking at the Array Rule as a whole, it is quite
impressive how, at that time, mathematicians recognized the advantage of performing
elementary operations with entire columns and how real-life situations can be translated into
equations. Their key observation was that you cannot change just one value in a column because
it would violate the initial conditions given in the problem. Whatever is done to one value in the
column must be done to all values in the column. If we were to multiply the dou yield of one
column by 5, we would also have to multiply the numbers of paddies we have by 5 to correspond
to this increased yield. We also see in later problems in The Nine Chapters that mathematicians
used negative numbers to represent buying animals (money spent) and positive to represent
selling animals (money gained), further indicating their ability to parallel and give structure to
the real-world using math in a way that goes beyond simply studying the geometry of objects
around us. Spherical and triangular rocks inherently have a structure that can be mathematically
defined. The profit made from buying and selling animals and the total yield given several
different types of crops did not have this mathematical structure until they were laid out in
rectangular arrays.
The concept of rectangular arrays directly parallels modern matrices, which are used
extensively today across many industries because they are an extremely useful way to represent
data. Chinese mathematicians recognized this structure long before anyone else and were the first
solve the linear equations within them in an efficient manner. The Array Rule directly parallels
modern Gaussian elimination. Additions in The Nine Chapters make note of not only this fact,
but of the time disparity between these ideas, saying, “ Gauss published this solution in 1826.
This is about 2000 years later than the Nine Chapters.” Indeed, the Array Rule is a remarkably
modern technique and is nearly identical to what Gauss proposed and what is still used in
mathematics today. Gauss, however, takes the Array Rule one step further. Instead of reducing
the matrix to lower-triangular form and substituting, he continues performing operations on the
rows until the only non-zero entries in the matrix are 1’s along the diagonal, and the values for
each type of variable are what’s left at the bottom.

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