Artificial languages in the mathematics of ancient China (Q935687)

The author shows that an artificial language in a mathematical context need not involve ``non-discursive elements or specific symbolic systems,'' but can arise ``from specific elaborations within, and on the basis of, the usual written or oral language.'' As an example for the thesis in question, the author chooses the first chapter of Li Ye's \textit{Sea-mirror of the circle measurements} (1248), in which formulas are expressed in natural language in a peculiar way, akin to Polish notation in symbolic logic (referred to as ``inverse Polish notation,'' given that the operation is listed after the terms on which it operates).