An Ancient Typo

Posted on February 25, 2009 by Jason Dyer

This is probably the most famous image of Pascal’s Triangle in math history (Yang Hui’s triangle, from the 13th century). It was on the cover of my combinatorics book in college.

triangle2

However, the diagram contains a mistake. Where is it?

Filed under: Education, History, Mathematics |

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5 Responses

  1. jd2718, on February 25, 2009 at 6:34 pm said:

    I don’t read these numbers, but is that a 34 instead of a 35?

    Or is the 70 weird?

    Jonathan

    Reply
  2. Jason Dyer, on February 25, 2009 at 8:44 pm said:

    Correct the first time. It should be symmetrical but the numbers are different.

    Reply
  3. TwoPi, on February 26, 2009 at 3:39 am said:

    Wow. Amazing how many times you can look at something and never really *see* it.

    Great catch!

    Reply
  4. Math Teachers at Play #2 « Let’s Play Math!, on March 6, 2009 at 4:05 am said:

    […] Warrior Jason Dyer posts An Ancient Typo. Can you spot the […]

    Reply
  5. Playful Math Carnival 144: Anniversary Edition – Denise Gaskins' Let's Play Math, on February 22, 2021 at 5:35 am said:

    […] #2, Jason Dyer (@jdyer) challenged us to spot An Ancient Typo in some Chinese math […]

    Reply

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