When did the abacus originate?

Abacus, also known as abacus and abacus, is a simple calculation tool invented by our ancestors. The abacus calculation originated in the Northern Song Dynasty, and it was not counted until the Northern Song Dynasty. Abacus is a simple calculation tool invented by working people of Han nationality. 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 abacus with four great inventions of ancient china. There is an abacus in Zhao Taicheng's medicine cabinet in the famous painting "The Riverside Scene at Qingming Festival" in the Northern Song Dynasty. Because of its convenient operation, abacus has been widely used by working people of Han nationality for thousands of years, and even the most advanced modern electronic calculator can not completely replace the role of abacus. UNESCO has just passed in Baku, the capital of Azerbaijan, and abacus has officially become the intangible cultural heritage of mankind. This is also the 30th non-legacy project in China.

The abacus is a traditional calculation tool in China. It was invented by China people on the basis of long-term use of calculation. It was a great and important invention in ancient China. Before Arabic numerals appeared, it was a widely used calculation tool all over the world.

The origin of abacus can be traced back to the late Han Dynasty and three generations, which was invented by Guan Yu. It is said that there was a "computing board" in China at that time. The ancients strung 10 abacus beads into a group, arranged them in groups, put them in boxes, and then quickly set aside the abacus beads for calculation.

According to public information, the word "abacus calculation" first appeared in the Notes on Numerology written by Xu Yue in the Eastern Han Dynasty. Among them, there is a cloud: "The abacus controls the four seasons, and the latitude and longitude are three talents." Zhen Luan of the Northern Zhou Dynasty made an annotation to this effect, to the effect that the board was carved into three parts, the upper and lower parts were used to block the beads and the middle part was used to locate them. Each person has five beads, and the upper bead and the lower four beads are distinguished by color, which is later called "file". There are five beads on the top and one on the bottom. Today's explanation is that the abacus is rectangular, with a thin rod embedded in the wooden frame and abacus beads strung on it. The abacus beads can move up and down along the thin rod, and the arithmetic operation can be completed by moving the abacus beads by hand.

In ancient times, people used small sticks to calculate. These sticks are called "computing chips", and calculations with computing chips as tools are called "calculations". Later, with the development of production, the calculation with wooden sticks was limited, so people invented a more advanced calculation tool-abacus.

In the Ming Dynasty, abacus can not only add, subtract, multiply and divide, but also calculate the area of land and the size of things of various shapes.