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Knowledge of Chinese mathematics before 100 BC is somewhat fragmentary, but there are elements that seem consistent. For one Chinese mathematics in early times was strongly related to astronomy and perfecting the calendar. Hence many of the earliest texts also deal with astronomy. For another its view of "proof" was slightly different. Many works simply listed equation and a proof was hinted at rather than shown. In other cases a proof was shown, but declared to be an established method after some fashion. This makes dating the use of certain mathematical methods in Chinese history problematic and disputed. Arguments for and against the Chinese discovering the Pythagorean theorem, for example, have at times been heated.