New Shun 1730

"I understand what you said, sir. This Jinghai Palace official school is just a pond. A group of blind people want to eat fish, so there are fish in the pond. When the blind people open their eyes one day and want to eat shrimps, crabs, and old turtles, there are actually fish in this pond?"

Liu Yu clapped his hands and laughed, "The one who understands me is Zhongxian! That's what I mean."

"The difference between this practical learning and the learning of sages is that the learning of sages is about how to interpret it. Without sages, there would be no learning of sages. But this practical learning can be developed by oneself and logically deduced. After studying the first few volumes of Geometry Elements, I pondered and thought about it. Even if he is talented, he can still figure out the last few volumes. Therefore, this practical learning does not need a teacher like a saint, but only needs to learn how to think. "

"Navy officers who have learned a full set of mechanics and geometric differentials and integrals can calculate more unprecedented knowledge after retirement. Perhaps, if we set up an academy of sciences, the first local academician of this academy will be a retired naval officer. "

Kang Budai thought about what Liu Yu had said before and asked, "Didn't your majesty also say that you have the idea of ​​establishing an academy of sciences?"

This made Liu Yu laugh.

"That's right. But Euler is here, who can understand what he is talking about? How many people in the country can discuss the three-body problem and the lunar orbit with him at this time? So we need to establish a practical school to ensure that when there is a civil strife in the palace of Luosha, these people can be called over and someone can understand. "

"There is only a teacher, but no disciples. It is meaningless to ask him to teach algebra and arithmetic. "

Kang Budai naturally didn't understand what the three-body problem was, but he probably understood what Liu Yu was going to do.

In the name of developing the navy, what is actually being developed is practical learning.

Thinking that Liu Yu was worried about not getting enough money, Kang Budai comforted him, "Don't worry, sir. You should be able to get the money. Do you know what Su Dongpo said about Wei Qing? A servant like Wei Qing is only suitable for people to lick his hemorrhoids. You were born in Wude Palace. In the eyes of court officials, you are also a lucky minister and servant like Wei Qing. Your Majesty must protect you, and it is only Your Majesty who will bear the blame. As long as Your Majesty is willing, you don't need to come forward to do this. It will definitely be done."

It sounds like an insult, but it is actually a comfort.

Liu Yu felt a little relieved and laughed, "Maybe. But as an emperor, no one wants to bear a reputation as cruel as Emperor Wu of Han. Everyone wants to be Song Renzong, and no one wants to be Qin Huang Han Wu. By the way, did you bring the books I asked the French to bring to me before?"

When the French delivered the warships a few years ago, Liu Yu spent a lot of money to ask the French to bring a few very important books.

Kang Budai didn't know Latin and could only recognize a few words, but he knew that Liu Yu valued these books very much, at least more than the training of the Qingzhou Army.

"I brought them. I have been keeping them carefully."

Back in the room, Kang Budai took out a third edition of "Mathematical Principles of Natural Philosophy" published in 1725, two years before Newton's death, from a locked cabinet. It was a thick book with about six or seven hundred pages.

Liu Yu asked Kang Budai to find someone to try to translate these books if they arrived.

Xu Guangqi said that if you want to understand, you must translate first.

But these books are too difficult to translate.

"Sir, I've often heard you talk about this book. I've also heard you say that a lot of the content in this book has been taught to others. For example, things like force and inertia. Sir, you've already covered the outline. Do you still need to translate the whole book now?"

Weighing the heavy book in his hand, Liu Yu flipped a page and looked at the geometric figures and various extension lines inside. He thought that this might be the first time he had read this book.

"Knowing what it is and why it is are not the same thing. If you only want to know what it is, it's fine to learn the outlines I wrote. But to know why it is, it's better to see how Newton deduced it."

Opening the title page, the first page is Halley's preface to this book.

"Please see the layout of the sky and the balance of the sacred matter."

"Please see Jupiter's calculations and the rules of the Creator."

"He established the rules when he created all things."

"After establishing them, even he will not violate them. This is the basis of his work."

"The sun sits on the throne and commands all things to descend to him, but the celestial bodies do not run in a straight line."

"From this book, we finally know why the bright moon moves at an uneven pace; through this book, we also know how much force the wandering Diana uses to push the tide back, and the tired ocean leaves seaweed and shells behind..."

Trying to translate Halley's preface poem for Newton, Kang Budai listened for a while and smiled: "Let me guess, is this Diana similar to Wangshu in our story? Chang'e? The tide is because of the moon, right? Sir, do you want me to polish it?"

Liu Yu's translation has neither level and rhythm, and is completely vernacular. After such a book is printed, I am afraid that cultural people will not take a second look at it.

But this is not the reason why Liu Yu asked Kang Budai for help.

"It is necessary to polish it, but the main thing is to replace Jupiter, Diana and so on with gods that ordinary people can understand. And for content like 'He established the rules when he created all things, and after establishing them, even he would not violate them. This is the basis of his work', use words like 'Tao' and 'Li' to make it more flexible."

Based on this sentence alone, Kang Budai felt that this was not difficult. But since you want to turn the book over, you need to set a tone first.

"It's not difficult for you to ask me to polish it. What's difficult is what tone you want?"

"Well, the tone is to translate the preface and make a new preface. You should try to get closer to the direction of the Yongjia School's 'where things are, there is the Tao'. This book explains why the moon rotates so much, why stars don't fall, and why water flows down. It's just a principle, there is no feeling like water is the best."

Kang Budai understood and roughly understood what Liu Yu meant.

"Sir, is this book so important? You definitely don't have time. The key is that after I get this book, I want to find some people who are knowledgeable and know some Latin to try to translate it, but... they can't understand it at all."

"Can't understand it?"

Liu Yu was a little stunned. He actually hadn't read this book, but just heard of it.

After turning over the title page and the preface, he turned to the first chapter. After reading for a while, Liu Yu himself was also confused.

The first chapter is about geometric concepts such as limits, differentials, and curve tangents.

Because when this book was written, calculus had not yet taken shape, but the content in it must use limits, tangents, geometry, conic sections and other contents.

After reading for a while, Liu Yu rubbed his head and thought that even if this book was printed, it would not lead any trend, because he had a headache after reading the first article and the first chapter. It is conceivable that even if this book was printed, it would be like a heavenly book.

This is not to say that the mythical Newton was ahead of the times, but because he personally led the times, and the mathematical tools he used were still from the old era. He geniusly used the knowledge of the old era to solve the content of calculus. This obscurity is really indescribable.

I thought this book was just about mechanics and gravity, and I was just talking to Kang Budai about knowing the truth and the reason.

After I really saw it, I thought about it and couldn't help laughing.

This book... now that it has been translated, it is really useless.

"Forget it, I don't think I'll translate this book for now. I think it's too simple. It's not useless to translate it, but it's better to do something else with the energy to translate this book. The return rate is too low."

"Xu Guangqi said that if you want to understand, you must translate first. I think it's not appropriate to use it at this time. If you want to understand, start a new one."

"Let them learn practical knowledge since they are young. They don't need to know why, just know how. Don't follow the Westerners' veins. Wait until someone learns it in the future, and then translate it."

I threw this mathematical principle of natural philosophy aside, rubbed my head, which felt a little headache after reading it for a while, and thought about it. I think the route of the compulsory education textbook in the previous life is the most suitable for the current Dashun.

Don't talk about the mathematical principle of natural philosophy, just let more people know that the earth is round and gravity is common sense.

Don't talk about profound thinking methods, just let enough people learn these things first, and there will naturally be those who have learned advanced things to explore deeper content.

Liu Yu had thought of trying to take the route of "Western learning going east", but after flipping through a few pages of this book, he had completely given up on this idea.

Technology can be learned from the West and spread to the East. If you can copy it, copy it. If you can translate it, translate it.

It will take a hundred years for science to spread from the West to the East.

Even if this book is translated and thrown into the south of the Yangtze River, it will not make a splash.

Some people often think that if these books are translated, they can get rid of backwardness. But now it seems unlikely.

The first chapter can dissuade most of the literati, because if you want to understand the first chapter, you have to make up geometry, conic sections, limits and other things, and learning these things is extremely time-consuming. There is no test in the imperial examination, so this book can only be circulated in a small circle.

This is not surprising. Even Qiu Chengtong, who won the Fields Medal, once said that Newton's book was too difficult to understand and gave him a headache.

Geometry was originally something that happened nearly two thousand years ago, so it is okay to use this Western learning to spread to the East.

But gradually it became deeper, and since there was no imperial examination, no one could really learn so deeply.

For new knowledge, it is better not to do the Westernization of learning to the East, but to start from scratch.

It is much easier to let some people accept a brand new worldview in a closed environment since childhood than to let the scholars and officials transform themselves through the Westernization of learning to the East.

Liu Yu originally had such an idea, and after reading Newton's book, he was even more determined.

After thinking for a moment, he picked up a pen and stayed in the room for three or four days to write some content.

After writing, he handed it to Kang Budai and said, "Brother Zhongxian, you should not have been exposed to this knowledge before. But just take a look at these few pages of paper, do you think you can understand it?"

Taking the papers curiously, Kang Budai read the contents on them silently, which was indeed unprecedented knowledge.

"... Everything is made up of atoms... A big ball is the nucleus of the atom, and the small balls outside are called dots, just like the moon revolving around the earth..."

After reading it carefully, Kang Budai nodded and said, "This can be read and understood. Although I don't know whether it is true or not, if they learn this from childhood, they will think that this is the law of nature and cannot be changed when they grow up. If they learn it from childhood, after they have learned it, I think there is no other way to impress them and make them change their minds."

"Sir, are you going to learn from Bai Juyi? Every time you write a new poem, you have to let the ignorant old woman read it first?"