Chinese

At the end of the Eastern Han Dynasty, Xu Yue recorded in "Numerology Legacy" that when his teacher Liu Hong visited Mr. Tianmu, a hermit, Mr. Tianmu explained 14 calculation methods, one of which was abacus, and the calculation tools used were very close to modern abacus. Each abacus has five movable abacus beads, of which 65,438+0 is equivalent to 5, and each of the following four is regarded as 65,438+.

At the end of the Eastern Han Dynasty, Mr. Tianmu

Xu Yue in Han Dynasty

Abacus is a familiar computing tool. Who is the inventor of abacus? What is the exact year of invention? We first saw the word "abacus" in Xu Yue's book Numerology Legacy in the Eastern Han Dynasty. But the note says that you can only add and subtract. Today, this theory is the rudiment of abacus. According to the analysis of existing reliable data, abacus was invented in Song and Yuan Dynasties. In the Ming Dynasty, Cheng Dawei's book "Pointing Algorithm Unifies Schools" (1592) was the most popular one at that time. The most influential abacus works. People have consulted a large number of historical documents, and from the Song and Yuan Dynasties to the time when Cheng Dawei lived (1553 ~ 1606), the name of the inventor of the abacus could not be found. In fact, the above-mentioned abacus calculation is also true. On the one hand, it shows that feudal rulers did not pay enough attention to scientific and technological inventions, on the other hand, it also shows that their inventions were a gradual process. It is gradually improved and perfected, and it is hard to say who is responsible. Abacus is evolved from calculation. Due to the development of society, the speed and accuracy of calculation are increasingly demanding, so people have reformed the calculation and created various songs. For example, the song of 14+7 is "Seven divided by three is one". Similarly, the rhyme of 14-7 is "seven retreats, one returns and three returns" and so on. All addition, subtraction, multiplication and division have a set of rhymes. In fact, before abacus appeared, almost all the abacus rhymes were ready except a few division rhymes. After the appearance of rhyme, the calculation speed is improved. If you continue to fiddle with calculations, you will be at a loss. Many of them will be outdoors. It is particularly easy to confuse calculation and preparation, resulting in errors. Therefore, it is an inevitable development trend for abacus to replace preparation for the exam, which is not only qualified, but also a very urgent matter. It was in this situation that craftsmen, calculators and businessmen at that time, together with * * *, invented a clever abacus. The similarity between abacus and calculation and preparation is obvious. Among the figures calculated and compiled, one is an increase of 5 and the other is a decrease. In abacus calculation, a pearl in the upper file is five, and a pearl in the lower file is one. In the calculation, there is an agreement called "five", which means that five cannot be represented by a single chip, which is why there are five beads in the middle of the abacus. Experts in the history of mathematics can also find the calculation basis of the two beads in the middle of the abacus. The above facts are enough to prove that the abacus evolved from calculation. The abacus is one of China's great scientific achievements in ancient times. Its structure and operation are simple. So it has been widely used for a long time. Until today, abacus is still a compulsory course for elementary school students in our country. Although all kinds of electronic computers and calculators are quite popular in the market, their operation speed can't keep up with the abacus in the hands of skilled abacus operators when adding and subtracting. After China's brilliant performance, abacus has traveled across the ocean and spread to Korea, Japan, Southeast Asia and Arabia, making an important contribution to world civilization. China is an abacus. Today, computers have been widely used. The old abacus has not been abandoned. On the contrary, because of its convenience and accuracy, it is in the ascendant in many countries. Therefore, people often compare the invention of the abacus with four great inventions of ancient china, and think that the abacus is also a great contribution of the Chinese nation to mankind. However, when did China start to have an abacus? Since the Qing Dynasty, many mathematicians have studied this problem, and Japanese scholars have devoted a lot of energy to it. Due to the lack of sufficient evidence, the origin of abacus is still controversial. To sum up, there are three main theories. One is the theory of the Eastern Han Dynasty and the Southern and Northern Dynasties advocated by the mathematician Mei in Qing Dynasty. The basis is that Xu Yue, a mathematician in the Eastern Han Dynasty, wrote a book "Numerology Legacy", which recorded fourteen algorithms. Later, Zhen Luan, a mathematician in the Northern Zhou Dynasty, commented on this passage: "Eight-part writing is divided into three parts, two parts up and down, and five parts in the middle. The last one is different from the next four. The last one is five and the next four is one. " It is considered as the earliest abacus record. However, some scholars believe that the abacus described in this book is at best a counting tool, or a simple calculation board that can only do addition and subtraction, which is different from the abacus that appeared later. Second, Yuan Ming, a scholar in Qing Dynasty, advocated that abacus appeared in the middle of Yuan Dynasty and was widely used in the late Yuan Dynasty and early Ming Dynasty. The twenty-ninth volume of Tao's "South Village Dropping Out of Farming" in the Yuan Dynasty, "Well Beads", I said abacus beads for a while, and I moved as soon as I said it; After a long time, the Buddha's words remained motionless all day, although he did not move. "Later generations called this" three-bead play ". Comparing a veteran handmaiden to an abacus bead, pull it and move it, which shows that abacus was very popular at that time. In Liu Yin's Collected Works of Mr. Mu Jing at the end of Song Dynasty and the beginning of Yuan Dynasty, there is a five-character quatrain entitled Abacus: "If you don't dance, you won't take it. "There are already specifications and sizes of making abacus in Luban Mu Jing compiled during Yongle period, and there are also some books introducing the usage of abacus, such as the abacus algorithm of Xinlu and the Zhi Zhu algorithm of Cheng Dawei, so there is no doubt that abacus has been widely used in Ming Dynasty. With the discovery of new historical materials, the third theory of abacus originated in Tang Dynasty and was popular in Song Dynasty. The basis is as follows: 1. There is an abacus on the front counter. After being enlarged by Chinese and Japanese abacus experts, it is confirmed that the object in the painting is a serial abacus similar to the abacus used in modern times. Secondly, a wooden abacus bead was excavated in Julu County, Hebei Province in192/0/year. It was submerged by water and soil for 800 years, but it was still drum-shaped with a hole in the middle, just like a modern abacus bead. His poem Abacus is not so much a description of things in Yuan Dynasty as a more accurate reflection of things in Song Dynasty. Similarly, Tao's "Three Beads Play" shows that abacus beads have been said in the proverbs of the Yuan Dynasty, which also reflects "the prevalence of laws in the Song Dynasty" ("the unification of algorithms" in the abstract of Sikuquanshu). Its appearance can be traced back at least to the Song Dynasty. In addition, the abacus in Song Dynasty was mature, and it was not as clumsy or rough as new things. Therefore, many mathematicians believe that the birth of abacus can be traced back to the Tang Dynasty. Due to the constant wars in the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms period before the Song Dynasty, the development of science, technology and culture was relatively slow, and it was less likely that abacus was born at this time. The Tang Dynasty is a prosperous time in China's history, and its economy and culture are relatively developed, so it needs a new calculation. The abacus, which has been used for two thousand years, evolved into an abacus at this time, and it is very likely that the abacus was invented at this time. Abacus is a valuable cultural heritage of the Chinese nation, but its origin has been debated for hundreds of years and cannot be unified. I hope more people with lofty ideals will devote themselves to further exploration and research, and draw scientific conclusions as soon as possible to comfort the ancients. Is worthy of future generations. The abacus symbolizes "multiply and divide without losing" and is often used to symbolize careful calculation. That's right. In Beijing Dongyue Temple Express Department, there are two big abacus, 6 feet long and 2 feet high, with 29 squares and 203 abacus beads. This abacus means that the immortal does not check the merits and demerits of the next generation.

Abacus calculation is a digital calculation method with abacus as a tool. The word "abacus calculation" first appeared in the "Arithmetic Notes" written by Xu Yue in the Han Dynasty, in which there is a cloud: "abacus calculation, control of four seasons, latitude and longitude three talents." Zhen Luan of the Northern Zhou Dynasty made an annotation to this effect, to the effect that the wooden board was carved into three parts, the upper and lower parts were used for stopping pearls and the middle part was used for positioning. each