Counting rods

Counting rods (筭) are small bars, typically 3–14 cm (1" to 6") long, that were used by mathematicians for calculation in ancient East Asia. They are placed either horizontally or vertically to represent any integer or rational number.

Counting rods
Chinese name
Traditional Chinese算籌
Simplified Chinese算筹
Alternative Chinese name
Chinese算子
Vietnamese name
Vietnamese alphabetque tính
toán trù
Hán-Nôm𣠗併
算籌
Korean name
Hangul산가지
산목
Hanja算-
算木
Japanese name
Kanji算木
算籌
Hiraganaさんぎ
さんちゅう

The written forms based on them are called rod numerals. They are a true positional numeral system with digits for 1–9 and a blank for 0, from the Warring states period (circa 475 BCE) to the 16th century.

This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.