The Mausoleum of Qin Shihuang was born, and my immortal identity was exposed

Chapter 151 The Charm of Mathematics, Chicken and Rabbit in the Same Cage
After Jiang Sheng finished speaking, he went to get the paper and pen again.

"Come, come, I will teach you a lesson."

As he spoke, Jiang Sheng wrote ten Chinese characters from one to ten on the paper.

"You all know these, right?"

Although, the modern simplified characters are somewhat different from the ancient ones.

But this "one, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eighty, ninety" generally looks pretty much the same.

The people in front of Jiang Sheng could naturally tell the difference, and after a little hesitation, they nodded one after another.

"Well, but if you write it this way, it will be very troublesome to calculate when the number is too large."

"I'll teach you a better way to write like this."

While talking, Jiang Sheng used Arabic numerals to write one to ten under the corresponding Chinese characters on the paper.

"Well, and this one, it's zero."

"Every ten into one, you can write like this."

Jiang Sheng tirelessly became a teacher and taught the Arabic numerals to the few people in front of him.

Although this thing is simple, it is of great significance.

You know, in today's world, almost all countries are using Arabic numerals.

The expression is compact and simple, which is easier for people to understand than Chinese characters and ancient Roman numerals.

And just use the ten numbers from zero to nine to express all natural numbers.

Even the calculation is simpler than other expressions.

Teaching the Arabic numerals to the people of the Great Qin and Tang Dynasties, and letting them pass them on, will be of great use in enlightening the wisdom of the people.

The mathematical wisdom of the ancient Chinese is no worse than that of other countries in the world at the same time.

Arguably, even more advanced.

For example, the ninety-nine multiplication formulas that are familiar to everyone today have appeared as early as the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period.

In "Xunzi", "Guanzi", "Huainanzi", "Warring States Policy" and other books, you can find the sentences "three nine 27", "six eight 48", "four eight 32", "six six 36" .

And with the carrier of Arabic numerals, Jiang Sheng believes that it will allow the ancient Chinese people to burst out more whimsical ideas.

"Well, let me tell you about addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division."

Now that he talked about Arabic numerals, Jiang Sheng simply talked about the modern symbols such as addition, subtraction, multiplication and division.

It's just some arithmetic symbols, and it's not that difficult for a few ancients to understand.

Jiang Shengshun also came up with a few arithmetic problems, all of which were written in modern mathematical expressions.

Unsurprisingly, although the few people had difficulty changing their thinking at first, after getting used to it, they answered quickly.

"It opened my eyes." After Jiang Sheng finished speaking, Ying Zheng nodded, "Master Xian's method does have merit."

Li Shimin shook his head and said: "It's not difficult, I understand it at a glance."

"What I told you is very basic." Jiang Sheng teased: "In future generations, these are all learned by Mengtong."

"The fairy teacher is joking." Li Shimin shook his head, "How can a child learn such a strange skill?"

Ying Zheng also nodded slightly, agreeing with Li Shimin's statement.

Jiang Sheng sneered: "Not only do they know it, they learn it better than you."

"Come on, come on, I'll give you debut questions, the questions done by elementary school students in the eight classics, in later generations will be done by ten-year-old children!"

"Today there are pheasant rabbits in the same cage, with 35 heads on the top and 94 feet on the bottom. How many are the pheasant rabbits?"

This is the classic chicken and rabbit in the same cage, a topic that appeared in "Sun Tzu's Mathematical Classics".

In modern times, it is a topic for elementary school students.

But obviously, the few people in front of them were a little stumped.

If you are a junior high school student, you can solve it quickly with binary equations.

But how did these ancient people know what an equation is?
Wang Ben made a bitter face: "Master Immortal, are these pheasants and rabbits fairy beasts? The ones with three heads and six legs?"

"Pfft!" Jiang Sheng just took a sip of water and sprayed it all over his mouth, "Old Wang, your thinking is so out of the ordinary, you are a talent!"

"Hey, Immortal Master is absurd." Wang Ben rubbed his head in embarrassment.

Yeah, I thought I was praising him...

Jiang Sheng rolled his eyes: "Can it be done? This is a famous question in Chinese history, and Lao Li already had it at that time."

Li Shimin, Changsun Wuji, and Yu Chigong looked at each other in blank dismay. The method of counting is considered a "work" in scholars, farmers, businessmen, and they don't want to learn it.

"Okay, okay, let me tell you the answer, twelve rabbits, 23 chickens."

Several people quickly calculated in their hearts, and suddenly realized expressions appeared on their faces.

"I'm not as good as a mere child." Ying Zheng looked ashamed.

After Emperor Shihuang said this, the faces of the rest of the people were somewhat depressed.

Although they don't learn this very much, they are inevitably a little embarrassed to hear such a difficult question, which is only done for children in later generations.

"Do you know how good mathematics is?" Jiang Sheng put down the pen and paper in his hand, "Whether it is the Great Qin Dynasty or the Great Tang Dynasty in the future, this class must be included in the schools opened!"

"I know, you are all in high positions and look down on this strange skill."

"Then let me tell you, the guns, shells, etc. you are coveting, you can't make them without this mathematics!"

At this point, everyone finally understood Jiang Sheng's good intentions.

Yingzheng picked up his wine glass and said seriously: "I am taught, Master Immortal!"

Li Shimin also said "received teaching", and secretly decided in his heart that he would include calculations in next year's imperial examination.

This Mingshu Branch, which originally appeared after Emperor Gaozong of Tang Dynasty, stepped onto the stage of history one step earlier.

Fusu was the most eager to learn, and asked: "Master Immortal, what is the explanation for the problem of the pheasant and the rabbit in the same cage?"

"Well, it's easy to explain by setting up unknowns and enumerating equations." Jiang Sheng saw that everyone started to frown again, and hurriedly explained: "Okay, okay, pretend I didn't say it."

"Think of it this way, assuming that rabbits only have two legs, then..."

After Jiang Sheng finished talking about the hypothetical method, he saw that a few people were still ignorant, and sighed:

"Another method is the exhaustive method. Write down all the situations."

He took the blank paper, wrote down a series of numbers, and showed them to everyone.

"At this time, the advantages of this kind of numbers also appeared. Compared with using Chinese characters exhaustively, it is more convenient to write and easier to understand."

Fusu took the white paper in front of Jiang Sheng, looked at the notes on it, and sighed softly:

"It's really simple and easy to understand. You can understand it at a glance. The immortal master can actually create this kind of counting method."

"I didn't invent this." Jiang Sheng waved his hand quickly, "These are called Arabic numerals, but they were invented by the Indians and spread by the Arabs."

"India?"

"Arab?"

Ying Zheng and Li Shimin looked at each other, and they both saw the doubt in each other's eyes.

The name sounds like two countries, but I don't know how it compares with Daqin and Datang?
Since the immortal master values ​​the Arabic numerals so much, he must not be an unknown person.

ps There are too many things in July, several projects have to be delivered, and then there is a semi-annual work summary. During this period of time, the update may be a bit stretched. It will be fine after this period of time. I hope readers will understand thanks.

(End of this chapter)