An Approach to the 'I-CHING'

by Frank C. Fung - 1st published in December, 2004.

Top Of Page

Home Page for the [ ICG Approach ]

go to Brief Introduction & Summary below.

This paper is published in honor of my father, the late Charles Hok-Ling Fung ( 1909 - 2002 ) , on the occasion of his 95th birthday on 2004-12-18.

B.I.A.S.

Brief Introduction & Summary :

The 'I-CHING' is the ancient Chinese { Book of CHANGE } , dating back to more than 4,000 years ago.

Our key observations here are :

• CHANGE is the essence of TIME .

• CHANGE is the essence of DISTANCE / Physical Dimensions.

  ( See Section 1 for an analogy. )

The { ICG Approach } is a mathematical / combinatorics approach to the 'I-CHING ' :

• the { Parity-of-'4' } in a { 3-Dimensional Space } is exhibited by the 4 cross-diagonals of a cube :
  • they are all equal in length , and

  • they intersect one-another at the same angle .

  ( This arises from the { Trigram Placement Scheme according to WEN WANG } . See Section 2 & Section 5 )

• This { Parity-of-'4' } concept is carried thru onto the { ICG Hexagram Placement Scheme } for the 64 Hexagrams, in Section 5 , with :
  • the { X-Axis } , { Y-Axis } , & { Z-Axis } all being { modulo 4 } based ,

    so that continuity is achieved on an 'ad-infinitum' basis . ( 4 x 4 x 4 = 64 ) .

• Probability Calculations in Section 6 , arising from the traditional { Ceremony with the 50 sticks } in a { Consultation with the Lords above } , are also { modulo 4 } based, and this also brings us onto numbers of the order of { 1 / 2^64 } , very fine numbers indeed for more than 4,000 years ago.

  Whether there is a hint here onto { C.H.A.O.S. } is beyond the author's current scope.

• The { Reverse } process , i.e. reading a Hexagram up-side-down , in Section 7 , then bring us onto the mechanics of { Non-parity } arising from a pure { Parity-of-'4' } , with :
  • the Hexagrams on the { X-Z planes } at { Y = 0 modulo 4 } & { Y = 2 modulo 4 }

    behaving markedly different from :

  • the Hexagrams on the { X-Z planes } at { Y = 1 modulo 4 } & { Y = 3 modulo 4 } .

  And further { Non-parity } refinements are also present on these { X-Z planes } .

• Our final observations / proposals here are : ( Section 9 & Section 10 )
  • { Structured CHANGE } are more likely to achieve the desired results .

  • The mathematics of the 'I-CHING' may well be an alternative way to describe nature .

go to Top Of Page

return to FCF's HomePage

( Three Body Problem / Characteristics of Numbers / Matrix & Linear Algebra / 'I-CHING' )

Original dated 2004-12-18 *** Updated 2005-2-23/9-23 / 2008-11-01 / 2009-10-26