When did people start to use abacus, and why is abacus widely used in China?

The Three Kingdoms period at the end of the Han Dynasty.

The abacus is a calculation tool that has spread throughout Europe and Asia, and it was a widely used calculation tool before the advent of Arabic numerals. There are still quite a few old businessmen in China and Russia who use it.

There are theories of Egyptian, Chinese, Aztec, Arab, and Babylonian origins. Chinese legend has it that it was invented by a man named Lishou under the Yellow Emperor.

In the late Han Dynasty and the Three Kingdoms period, Xu Yue wrote and the Northern Zhou Han Zhonglang Zhen Luan's "Records of Mathematics" described the early abacus such as Taiyi calculation, Liangyi calculation, and Sancai calculation in ancient China.

Zhen Luan's note: ""The stereotype is five horizontally, vertically in place, one with two beads, the upper pearl is green, the lower pearl is yellow, and its green beads are from top to bottom, the first moment is the fifth, the second is the sixth, the third is the seventh, the fourth is the eighth, and the fifth is the nineth. Its yellow beads are from the bottom to the top, to the first moment of the main one, the second moment of the main two, the third moment of the main three, the fourth moment of the main four, and that's it."

The pearls of different colors on it should be five, and the beads under it should be four, and each of the beads should be one. to the lower four beads. Therefore, the cloud control is three with four.

Its pearls swim in three directions. Therefore, the cloud warp and weft are also three talents". This is the earliest written record of the abacus.

The earliest picture of an abacus in China can be found in the long scroll of the Qingming Shanghe Diagram by the Northern Song Dynasty painter Zhang Zeduan (1085-1145), which shows a 15-grade abacus on the left hand of the account book on the counter of Zhao Taicheng's pharmacy on the left[2].

In 1371, there is also an illustration of the abacus in the "Four-character Miscellaneous Words of Kuiben Couplets", which is divided into ten grades, each with 7 beads, 2 beads on the upper sorghum and 5 beads on the lower sorghum [3]. Wu Jing, a native of the Ming Dynasty, recorded the algorithm of abacus in the "Nine Chapters of Detailed Annotations and Analogous Algorithms". In the first year of Wanli (1573), the Ming Dynasty mathematician Xu Xinlu published the Panzhu Algorithm in Fujian, with a large number of illustrations, showing the Ming-style abacus with one bead on the top and five beads on the bottom.

Ming Wurong's "Luban Jing Craftsman's Mirror" has a more detailed description of the size of the abacus: ""Abacus: one foot two inches long, four inches and two minutes large, the frame is six minutes thick, the bottom edge of the bowl, the upper two sons are one inch, the lower five sons are three inches and one minute, the length is short and the size is done by looking at the son"[4] Wang Wensu of the Ming Dynasty "Xinji Token Ancient and Modern Arithmetic Treasures" pioneered the abacus Kaiping method and the cubic meter method.

Abacus'It was not created by one person, it was first created in the Han and Tang dynasties, experienced the Song and Yuan dynasties and became popular in the Ming Dynasty. Ma Huan, who accompanied Zheng He to the West, wrote about the Guli Kingdom; "There is no calculation in his arithmetic, but it is calculated with two hands and ten fingers of two feet, and there is no difference in the fraction"[5]. The abacus was first created in China and spread to Asian countries such as Korea, Japan, and Vietnam, and later to the West through this business travel.

Calculation equipment has appeared in many ancient civilizations, for example, the ancient Roman calculator did not have the concept of place value and was eliminated, and Russia changed the abacus to ten abacus beads per column, which was troublesome to calculate. Japan also uses the Chinese abacus.

Eastern Han Dynasty. China's written record of the abacus first appeared in the Eastern Han Dynasty. The Eastern Han Dynasty mathematician's "Chronicles of Mathematics" contains:

It can be seen that there was an abacus in the Han Dynasty, but the shape is different in recent times. However, one bead above the middle beam is five, and each bead below the middle beam is one, which is the same as in modern times, and according to Xu Yue, his teacher Liu Hong once asked Mr. Tianmu to learn from the Taoist, and Tianmu gave the method of teaching abacus, which shows that the abacus has appeared in the Eastern Han Dynasty at the latest. Some historians believe that the name abacus first appeared in the Collected Works of Mr. Jing Xiu written by the Yuan scholar Liu Yin (1249-1293).

In "Yuan Qu Selection", the anonymous "Pang Jushi mistakenly released the next debt" also mentions the abacus. There is such a sentence in the play: "Idle hands, go to the abacus and dial my age."

In 1274 AD, Yang Hui recorded the "Nine Return and Division" about abacus in "Multiplication and Division" and Zhu Shijie in "Arithmetic Enlightenment" in 1299. In 1450 A.D., Wu Jing in the "Nine Chapters of Detailed Annotations and Analogous Algorithms", the use of the abacus is described in more detail, Zhang Zerui painted an abacus in the "Qingming Riverside Map", it can be seen that as early as the Northern Song Dynasty or before the Northern Song Dynasty, China has widely used the abacus as a calculation tool.

Bead abacus. It is a traditional Chinese calculation tool, and it is a calculation tool that is very helpful to us. It can be regarded as in the Northern Song Dynasty.

It appeared in the period, because it is mentioned in those works of antiquity, it is calculated using the abacus, and it is divided into two parts.

The upper row is called the upper beam, and half of it is made up of two beads. The lower part is generally called under the beam, and the half is composed of five beads, each of the upper beads represents 5, and each of the lower beads represents 1. It is mainly calculated with the beads on the abacus, and the abacus has four corresponding rules of operation, which can allow people to do some addition and subtraction operations, etc.

When people are using the abacus, you can see people using their hands to pluck the beads on the abacus up and down to calculate, for skilled people, using the abacus to calculate is not inferior to modern calculators. Because its calculation is very simple and fast, it has become a common calculation tool in our country.

In the past, I used to have this thing in some clinics and small shops, and I used to have a small abacus in my home, which can also make children interested in learning, which is a very useful thing. Of course, in modern times the abacus is also of great significance to us, for example, the abacus for us is a mascot that means wealth, generally in the child's first birthday ceremony, the lot will be placed on a small abacus, if the child catches the abacus, it means that the child will be very good in the future with a good meaning. Moreover, whether at home or in the office, the abacus implies the prosperity of career and financial luck.

And the use of abacus calculation can also improve our mental arithmetic ability and thinking ability, and it is very convenient, but it is still not as simple and fast as a computer, so now the abacus has been replaced by a calculator.

However, the good meaning and historical significance it represents cannot be replaced, so I also hope that we can preserve the original historical heritage and not let it be slowly forgotten by people.

During the Northern Song Dynasty, an abacus appeared. The emergence of Shangpan promoted the creation of ancient art, and also promoted the development of ancient working people, and also promoted the operation of mathematics, improved the development of computing in China, and was also the earliest computing tool in the world.

The abacus first appeared in the Northern Song Dynasty in China; It is not only our cultural embodiment, but also represents the wisdom of the ancient Chinese working people, and is a simple calculation tool.

The abacus appeared in the Northern Song Dynasty, it is a simple calculation tool invented and created by the ancient working people in China, and its appearance greatly facilitates people's calculations.

Old-fashioned abacus; The abacus used by accountants now.

It originated in China and has a history of more than 2,600 years. Before the advent of Arabic numerals, the abacus was a widely used calculation tool in the world.

Today, abacus continues to be used in parts of Asia and the Middle East, especially in stores, where it can be bought from stores of Chinese and Japanese goods. In the West, it is sometimes used to help children understand numbers, and some mathematicians like to experience what it's like to use an abacus to calculate simple arithmetic problems.

A baiOld-fashioned abacus, two above.

beads of each generation

Table 5, each of the five beads below

stands for dao1This is due to the fact that in ancient times, people were basically accustomed to the calculation of hexadecimal system, so there was this design.

Two. The abacus used by accountants now, because they are now accustomed to decimal calculations, is designed with a bead on the top to represent 5, and a bead on the bottom to represent 1

There are two commonly used abacus, which are hexadecimal and decimal.

1. Old-fashioned abacus, the top two back beads each represent 5, and the bottom answer five beads each represent 1This is due to the fact that in ancient times, people were basically accustomed to the calculation of hexadecimal system, so there was this design.

Second, the abacus used by accountants, because we are now accustomed to decimal calculations, so the design is that the top beads represent 5, and the lower 4 beads each represent 1

Convenient calculation.

2) Because the plan requires close cooperation of the brain, eyes, and hands, it is a good way to exercise the brain.

3) There is no networking, so it is easy to keep secrets.

4) Intangible cultural heritage.

5) Low cost, green and intellectual. Slow.

The term abacus does not refer specifically to the Chinese abacus. Judging from the existing documents, many ancient civilizations have their own calculation tools similar to abacus. All kinds of abacus in ancient and modern China and abroad can be divided into three categories: sand table, abacus, and bead-piercing abacus.

1. The sand table is on the tabletop, slate and other flat plates, spread with fine sand, and people use wooden sticks to write, draw and calculate on the fine sand.

2. Later, the sand was gradually not paved, but a number of parallel lines were carved on the board, and small stones (called "operators") were placed on them to count and calculate, which was the abacus. A marble abacus more than 1 meter long was discovered in Salamis, Greece in the mid-19th century.

It is the ancient Greek abacus, which is now in the Museum of Athens. The abacus has always been an important calculation tool in the European Middle Ages, but the form is very different, the lines are straight and horizontal, the operator is round and flat, and sometimes it creates a conical shape (similar to a checker), and it is also marked with numbers.

Abacus can be roughly divided into three categories: sand table, abacus, and bead abacus.

For details, please see here.

Up two, down five, and up down four.

Abacus can be roughly divided into three categories: sand table, abacus, and bead abacus.

The abacus was invented by Xu Yue in the 15th century.