winter solstice and the superior epoch.</p><br><subsect id="mystery">Mystery of the Superior Epoch Computation</subsect><p>Chinese mathematicians developed a general algorithm for solving a system of congruence equations no later than the third century. The algorithm was later known as the <i>d&#224; y&#462;n z&#466;ng sh&#249; sh&#249;</i> (大衍總術數) in China and the direct construction proof of the <a href="https://planetmath.org/ChineseRemainderTheorem" target="_blank">Chinese remainder theorem</a