Chinese Invented Numbers, Researcher Claims

Ananova ^ | 6-13-2002

[blam]

Chinese invented numbers, researcher claims

A Singapore researcher believes the Chinese invented the numerical system, not Arabs and Indians, as is commonly thought.

India and Arabia came up with the written symbols, but China invented a system involving bamboo rods which could express any number.

Lam Lay Yong believes the Chinese were adding, subtracting, multiplying and dividing at least 1,000 years before anyone else.

A retired National University of Singapore mathematics professor, Dr Lam, 66, told The Straits Times the universal system using the numbers one to nine - known as the Hindu-Arabic system - had its roots in the rod bundles used in China from as early as 475 BC.

Merchants, scholars, monks and court officials carried these rods, which they used like calculators, placing them on boards or on the ground.

By putting one to five rods in various positions, they formed the nine numerals.

Dr Lam said: "The ancient Chinese invented a notation such that with the knowledge of only nine signs, any number could be expressed. Without this, they would not have been able to develop mathematics."

Story filed: 11:08 Thursday 13th June 2002

[blam]

I wonder what these symbols on a 9,500 year old piece of pottery found off the coast of India will prove to be?

[Mo1]

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[Skip Ripley]

I thought the Jews invented numbers to improve the performance at their deli's

[Gladwin]

Did the Roman's multiply and divide? What numerical system did the Greeks use? Even though Roman numericals are screwy, there must have been some way of using them for multiplication and division. Even if it was just some clerk's method or an abaqus.

[boomop1]

Shoot, I thought Algore did or maybe Trigger.

[OHelix]

But who invented ten fingers?

[KC_for_Freedom]

I have never thought that the Arabs claimed any credit for inventing numbers. They kept the number system and some records of the past alive by taking them to Bagdad. (I believe they also get credit for developing the "zero" in the negative number system.

Anyone who plays with Mah Joung tiles knows that bamboo symbols can represent numbers.

[RightWhale]

The 1-9 system is not practical for much of anything. However, add a tenth figure, the zero (0), and there it is. Multiplication, division, compound interest.

[general_re]

I believe that addition and subtraction was relatively straightforward with Roman numerals, but division and multiplication can be sort of time-consuming. For some reason, I was looking for an answer about Roman mathematics not long ago, and according to this page, they had counting boards that they used for calculations.

There are also apparently numerical methods for adding, subtracting, multiplying and dividing using Roman numerals, but it doesn't look like much fun ;)

[ShadowAce]

Actually, amoebas were dividing and multiplying before anyone else thought of it....

[Vinnie_Vidi_Vici]

The 1-9 system is not practical for much of anything. However, add a tenth figure, the zero (0), and there it is. Multiplication, division, compound interest.

They invented the Zero so they could accurately express the average Muslim IQ

[JmyBryan]

Too bad they didn't patent them ...

[general_re]

With only nine symbols, they could have used a lack of symbol to represent "zero."

That seems problematic if you expect zero to function as a placeholder - how do you know if a number is 106, 1006, or 1000000006?

[blam]

"But I'm not sure what these folks are crowing about. C500BCE is so late, it's possible this Chinese invention was imported from India. Now if they was talking 5000BCE I'd sit up and pay attention."

That was my first thought while reading this.