What century was the abacus invented? What century was the abacus invented?

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

The abacus is a simple calculation tool created and invented by our ancestors, the abacus originated in the Northern Song Dynasty, and the Northern Song Dynasty stringed abacus. The abacus is a simple calculation tool invented and created by the working people in ancient China.

China is the hometown of the abacus, and today, when computers have been widely used, the ancient abacus has not only not been abandoned, but has been in the ascendant in many countries because of its convenience and accuracy. In the famous painting of the Northern Song Dynasty "Qingming Riverside Picture", Zhao Taicheng's pharmacy cabinet is painted with an abacus. Because the abacus is convenient and fast, it has been a common calculation tool used by the working people in ancient China for thousands of years, and the most advanced electronic calculator in modern times cannot completely replace the role of the abacus.

Adopted by UNESCO in Baku, the capital of Azerbaijan, the abacus officially became an Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity. It is the 30th item listed as intangible cultural heritage in China.

As for the origin of the abacus, it can be traced back to 600 B.C., and it is said that there was one in China at that time"Abacus"。The ancients strung 10 abacus beads into a group, arranged them in groups, put them into the frame, and then quickly dialed the abacus beads to calculate.

Who invented the abacus is impossible to investigate. But its use should have been very early.

At the end of the Eastern Han Dynasty, the mathematician Xu Yue's "Chronicles of Mathematics" contained: "Abacus controls four times, and longitude and latitude are three talents." "Northern Zhou Zhen Luan Zhuyun:" The stereotype is three points, each with five beads, the upper bead and the lower four beads are different in color, the upper pearl is different from the other, and the lower four beads are each one. ”

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 the Taoist Mr. Tianmu, Mr. Tianmu explained 14 calculation methods, one of which is the 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:

With my hands free, I went to the abacus and dialed 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.

3rd century. Xu Yue (?) 220) word Gong River.

He was a famous mathematician and astronomer in the Eastern Han Dynasty, and the world's first "abacus" proposer and "abacus" recorder. A native of Donglai (now Laizhou City). During the reign of Emperor Ling of the Eastern Han Dynasty, the famous astronomer Liu Hong created the "Dry Elephant Calendar" and "personally taught it the law" to Xu Yue.

Xu Yue devoted himself to the study of the calendars such as obscurity, Shuo, strings, hope, and the eclipse of the sun and the moon, and further improved the "dry elephant calendar", and later taught the calendar to Kan Ze, the secretary of Wu Guozhong, so that the calendar could be implemented in Wu State. The study of the calendar laid a solid foundation for Xu Yue's future research in arithmetic. He collected a large number of mathematical materials since the pre-Qin period, and wrote mathematical works such as "Records of Mathematics" and "The Need for Arithmetic".

The Mathematical Records record the essence of his arithmetic questions and answers with Liu Hong in detail, and introduce 14 calculation methods. For the first time, the style of the abacus was recorded, and for the first time, it was named "abacus". Emperor Yankang of the Han Dynasty died of illness in the first year (220).