When was the abacus invented? Help the gods.

Abacus is a common calculation 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. However, the note says that only addition and subtraction can be done. Today, it seems that this theory is the embryonic form of an abacus. From the analysis of available reliable data, abacus was invented in Song and Yuan Dynasties. Cheng Dawei's "Directing at Arithmetic, Unifying Clan" (1592) in Ming Dynasty is the most widely circulated and influential book on abacus calculation. People have consulted a large number of historical documents, and from the Song and Yuan Dynasties to the Cheng Dawei era (1553 ~ 1606), they can't find the name of the inventor of the abacus. In fact, the same is true of the above calculation and financing. 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 are a gradual process, which is gradually improved and perfected, and it is difficult to say which party is responsible. The abacus 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 melody of 14+7 is "seven divided by three is one". Similarly, the melody of 14-7 is "seven retreats, one returns three" and so on. All addition, subtraction, multiplication and division have a set of songs. In fact, before the abacus appeared, almost all the abacus rhymes were ready except for a few division rhymes. After the appearance of rhyme, the calculation speed has increased, and it will be overwhelming to continue to fool around with calculation. Due to the limitation of the objective environment, many business people who do calculations outdoors are particularly prone to make mistakes. In this way, abacus instead of calculation has become an inevitable development trend, not only the conditions have been met, but also a very urgent matter. It was in this situation that craftsmen, calculators and businessmen at that time worked together to develop a sophisticated abacus. The similarity between abacus and calculation is obvious. Among the calculated figures, one is raised to five and the other is raised to one; In the abacus plate, one bead in the file is five, and the next bead is one. There is an agreement in the calculation called "five", which means that five can't 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 that there are 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. It has the advantages of simple structure, simple operation and convenient carrying, so it is widely used and lasts for a long time. Until today, abacus calculation is still a compulsory course for primary school students in China. 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 showed his talents, abacus calculation spread to Korea, Japan, Southeast Asia and Arabia, and made great contributions to world civilization. China is the hometown of abacus. Today, computers have been widely used. The ancient abacus has not been abandoned, but it is in the ascendant in many countries because of its convenience and accuracy. 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 also invested a lot of energy. Due to the lack of sufficient evidence, the origin of abacus is still controversial. To sum up, there are three main theories. First, it was advocated by Mei, a mathematician in the Qing Dynasty during the Eastern Han Dynasty and the Southern and Northern Dynasties. The basis is that Xu Yue, a mathematician in the Eastern Han Dynasty, wrote a book "Numerology Legacy", which recorded 14 algorithms, and the thirteenth algorithm was called "abacus calculation", and said: "abacus calculation, control of four seasons, latitude and longitude three talents." Later, Zhen Luan, a mathematician in the Northern Zhou Dynasty, commented on this passage: "Stereotyped writing is divided into three points, the upper and lower points are the pearl of stopping traveling, and the middle point is positioning. There are five beads in each position, and the upper bead is different from the lower four beads. There are five beads of different colors on the top and one on the bottom. To the next four beads, so the cloud' controls the four seasons'. Its beads swim between the three parties, so the cloud' latitude and longitude three talents' is also. " These characters are considered to be the earliest records of abacus calculation. 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 be added and subtracted, which is different from the abacus that appeared later. Second, the Yuan and Ming Dynasties advocated by Qing Dynasty scholar Qian Dating, that is, abacus appeared in the middle of the Yuan Dynasty and was widely used in the late Yuan and early Ming Dynasties. In the Yuan Dynasty, Tao's Record of Dropping Out of Farming in the South Village, Volume 29, Well Beads, quoted a proverb at that time to describe slaves, saying, "Anyone who takes a servant beats his pearls when he first comes, and does not speak automatically; Say abacus beads for a while, and move as soon as you say it; For a long time, the Buddha's top bead, the word all day long, although it can't be moved. " Later generations called this "three-bead drama language." Comparing a veteran handmaiden to an abacus bead can be stirred, 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: "Don't stop singing the song of bread unless you dance with Weng Shang. How difficult is it to raise funds? " This is also clear evidence that abacus appeared in the Yuan Dynasty. As for the Ming Dynasty, Luban Mu Jing, compiled during Yongle period, had specifications and dimensions for making abacus, and there were also some books introducing the usage of abacus, such as Zhu Zhu Algorithm by Xu Xinlu and Tong Zong by Cheng Dawei, so abacus was widely used in the Ming Dynasty, which is beyond doubt. 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: First, in the famous painting The Riverside Scene at Qingming Festival in Song Dynasty, there was a drugstore with an abacus on the counter. After enlarging the picture, the abacus experts in China and Japan confirmed that the object in the painting is a renju abacus similar to the abacus used in modern times. 2. 192 1 A wooden abacus bead was unearthed in Julu County, Hebei Province. Submerged by water and soil for 800 years, it is still drum-shaped with holes in the middle, which is no different from modern abacus beads. Third, Liu Yin was born in the late Song Dynasty and early Yuan Dynasty. His abacus poems are more accurate than describing things in the Yuan Dynasty. Similarly, Tao's "Three Beads Play" shows that there are abacus in Yuan people's proverbs, and it also reflects that "Fa prevailed in Song Dynasty" ("Algorithm unifies clans" in the Summary of Sikuquanshu). Fourthly, there are nine files of abacus figures in the textbooks of Mongolian studies in the early Yuan Dynasty. Since it was already a training content in the early Yuan Dynasty, it can be seen that it is an ordinary thing, and its appearance can at least be pushed 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 pushed to the Tang Dynasty. Due to the constant wars in the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms before the Song Dynasty, the development of science, technology and culture was relatively slow, so it was unlikely that abacus was born at this time. The Tang Dynasty was a prosperous time in China's history, with developed economy and culture, and needed new calculation tools. At this time, the abacus was invented, which is very likely. 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. Be worthy of future generations. Abacus, symbolizing "not losing money by multiplication and division, but not losing money", is often used to symbolize careful calculation. 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 immortals don't check people's merits and demerits.