In sixteenth- and seventeenth-century Europe, the long Middle Ages had come to an end, the Renaissance had brought about an awakening, and the dogmatic authority of cumbersome philosophy and theology, which had constrained the free development of people's thoughts, was gradually destroyed. Feudal society began to disintegrate, and in its place came capitalist society, and the productive forces were greatly liberated. The prosperity of the capitalist factory crafts and the transition to machine production led to the rapid development of technical science and mathematics.

For example, in navigation, more precise astronomical observations are required to determine the position of ships. In the military, ballistics has become a central topic of research. The manufacture of accurate timepieces, the excavation of canals, the construction of embankments, the theory of the elliptical orbits of the planets, etc., also require a lot of complex calculations. Elementary mathematics since ancient Greece has gradually become inadequate to meet the needs of the time. In the 16th century, Italy also made a series of achievements in the theory of algebraic equations. Tartaglia, Cardano, Ferrari, Bomberi and others successively discovered and improved the universal solutions of cubic and quadratic equations, and used imaginary numbers for the first time. This is the biggest breakthrough in algebra since the Greek Diophantus. France's Vedic was a great example of algebra by creating a large number of algebraic symbols, using letters to represent unknowns, and improving calculation methods, which greatly improved algebra.

In numerical calculations, Steven systematically elaborated and used decimals, and then Napier created logarithms, which greatly accelerated the computation. Later, Pascal invented the addition machine and Leibniz invented the multiplication machine, which, although not practical, opened up a new way of mechanical calculation.

At the beginning of the seventeenth century, the main subjects of elementary mathematics (arithmetic, algebra, geometry, trigonometry) were basically formed, but the development of mathematics was in the ascendant, and it entered the next stage of the history of mathematics at an accelerated pace: the period of variable mathematics The difference between this period and the previous period (often called the period of elementary mathematics) is that the previous period mainly used static methods to study individual elements of the objective world, while this period is the process of exploring the change and development of things from the point of view of motion.

The mathematics of variables began with the establishment of analytic geometry, followed by the rise of calculus. This period also saw the emergence of new fields such as probability theory and projective geometry. But it all seems to be overshadowed by the power of calculus. Analytic science developed with a surging momentum, reaching an unprecedented level of splendor in the eighteenth century, and its richness and application were dizzying.

Ox Venus has bought a lot of books in Europe, and in these books it is really all-encompassing, whether it is astronomy and geography, customs, mathematics and physics, natural history, almost all aspects are involved. Of course, Zhu Youxiao himself couldn't finish every book, so he asked the people of the Daming Academy of Sciences to sort out these books and put them neatly in the library.

Putting these books in the library is not a shelf, but based on these books, Zhu Youxiao is ready to establish a new comprehensive university, this university recruits all students in the country, including all students of Daming Institute of Technology, Daming Officials College, Daming Academy of Sciences and Military Academy, this is a more new school, it will also supplement some of Zhu Youxiao's theories brought from later generations, and will also build several faculties, the division of these faculties will be more scientific. And a more advanced scientific laboratory will be established, and the Daming Academy of Sciences will be its graduate training institution, which is also the highest academic institution of Daming.

Zhu Youxiao selected a large number of foreign missionaries and students who had studied with them for a long time from the Daming Academy of Sciences, selected books that were more suitable for study, compiled textbooks, imparted professional knowledge, and taught these relatively modern knowledge to students in accordance with systematic teaching methods, There are not many people who can really understand, but it doesn't matter, the university set up by Zhu Youxiao is open, and the capable are teachers, and they carry out very open teaching, not to mention that for these things, Zhu Youxiao has been in contact with them, and he can take the opportunity to impart new knowledge to students, and no one will think that this is a later generation, but only that His Majesty the Emperor is indeed talented.

Zhu Youxiao invited Sun Chengzong to personally inscribe the name of the school "Daming People's University" this time. Zhu Youxiao explained to everyone the meaning of "Daming People's University" and said, this university is the university of the people of Daming, any Ming people as long as the learning level meets the admission standards, can come here to study, his philosophy must be to serve all the people of Daming, to be a qualified descendant of Daming.

Sun Chengzong is the honorary president of the Daming People's University, which gave Sun Chengzong the highest honor, and Sun Chengzong was drunk that day. The first president of this university is Sun Yuanhua, Zhu Youxiao let him work in the position of chief of general affairs for so long, and let him work part-time in the Daming Academy of Sciences, the purpose is to completely train him out, his age is when he is in the prime of life, Song Yingxing has too many things, Mr. Xu Guangqi is too old, Zhu Youxiao let him recuperate, in addition to usually letting him guide the students, let people serve him like the ancestors after that, and often let Zhang Jingyue and others do some physical examinations and other work for him, Extend his life as much as possible, he is one of the scientific fathers of the Ming Dynasty, and he is the pride of the Ming people.

Zhu Youxiao's purpose in establishing this university is very clear, and he pays the most attention to the research of basic science, and only by laying a solid scientific foundation can he continue to make progress in future research. In these universities, the most important ones are mathematics, physics, and astronomy, and mathematics is the foundation of all disciplines, and only by thoroughly understanding the principles of mathematics can we learn other subjects on this basis. The study of physics is the basis for the development of science in the future, including later chemistry, in fact, it is also a branch of physics, and even astronomy was developed on this basis, whether it was Kepler, Galileo or later Newton, they were all mathematicians, physicists, and later became astronomers.

Kepler has now discovered the three laws of planetary motion, Galileo is in Italy, their works have been bought by Niu Venus, Zhu Youxiao just wants these theories to take root in Daming, hoping that in Daming can also appear their own Newton, Faraday, Ampere, Volt, Edison and other geniuses, establish their own physical theorems, electromagnetic theory, and create great inventions.

Although these things cannot be achieved overnight, but planting these seeds will have the opportunity to take root and sprout, in Zhu Youxiao's impression, the Ming Dynasty is also an elite in this era, but most of them are literati, like what thinkers, writers, military strategists are more, that is because there is no more scientific research atmosphere, now with their own arrival, the situation has changed a lot, this is not even Huang Zongxi, Gu Yanwu have entered the Daming Institute of Technology to go to school, then the life trajectory of other people may change, In the end, you will become a scientist, but you need to train and teach, and you still need to discover talents.

Zhu Youxiao believes that the most important thing to do now is to train a large number of teachers, first let them learn the knowledge brought from Europe, and then let them train more science enthusiasts, and there must be enough talent base to train top-notch scientists. For this reason, it is necessary to set up basic teacher classes in Daming People's University, and the students are selected from the Daming Technical College and the Daming Official College, whose foundation is relatively good, the basic knowledge is relatively solid, and it is easier to understand these new disciplines.

The development of any university is inseparable from the support of financial resources, the same is true of Daming People's University, Daming Institute of Technology is supported by Zhu Youxiao's strong financial support of the Ming Royal Trading Company, but it also gives the Ming Royal Trading Company great returns, a large number of inventions and creations for the Ming Royal Trading Company has brought a wealth of products, the two complement each other, has formed a virtuous circle. Daming Renmin University does not have these returns, because it is based on basic science as the main research direction, and it is important to attach importance to various theoretical research, for example, mathematics, in addition to applied mathematics can also produce some benefits, the rest are to lay the foundation for scientific research. This is especially the case in astrophysics, which basically does not produce benefits and costs a lot, but once it brings about a new breakthrough in theory, it will produce huge social benefits and belong to the public interest. Therefore, Zhu Youxiao decided to let the Ming household department allocate funds to build the university, rather than relying on a commercial operation model, which required the approval of the cabinet.