Mathematics
Chinese mathematics was defined by Chinese in ancient times as the "art of calculation" (Suan Shu). The first true evidence of mathematical activity in China can be found in numeration symbols on tortoise shells and flat cattle bones (commonly called oracle bones, dated from the Shang Dynasty (14th century B.C.). These numerical inscriptions contain both tally and code symbols which are based on a decimal system, and they employed a positional value system. This proves that the Chinese were one of the first civilizations to understand and efficiently use a decimal numeration system. Early Chinese mathematics had a great influence on other later civilizations, in India, Japan, Korea and other counties.
Zu Chongzhi and Pi
Zu Chongzhi (429-500) was born in the family of a scholar bureaucrat of the Southern Dynasties Period. Zu had great achievement on astronomy, cylindrical science, mathematics and mechanics. Zu Chongzhi's main contribution to math is the computation of pi. Records show that Zu worked out the numerical value of pi -- between 3.1415926 and 3.1415927. It was the most advanced achievement worldwide at that time. Such precision was not surpassed until the 15th century when Al'Kashi, a native of Samarkand (now Uzbekistan), calculated pi using a similar method. To honor Zu's great contribution to math, some foreign math historian suggested calling pi Zu Lv (the rate of Zu). The achievements of Zu Chongzhi and his son Zu Geng were recorded in their work Zhui Shu (Method of Interpolation) and listed among the Ten Mathematical Classics to be used by Chinese students of the Tang Dynasty as well as Korean and Japanese students.
Jiuzhang Suanshu (Nine Chapters on the Mathematical Art)
The Jiuzhang Suanshu (Nine Chapters on the Mathematical Art) is the longest surviving and one of the most important in the ten ancient Chinese mathematical books. The book was co-compiled by several people and finished in the early Eastern Han Dynasty (about 1st century), indicating the formation of ancient Chinese mathematical system. It became the criterion of mathematical learning and research for mathematicians of later generations ever since then. The book is divided into nine chapters containing 246 questions with their solutions and procedures. edition published by the Northern Song government in 1084 was the earliest mathematical book in the world. The book was introduced to Korea and Japan during the Sui and Tang dynasties (581-907). Now, it has been translated into several languages, including Japanese, Russian, German, English and French, and become the basis for modern mathematics.
Abacus
The abacus is one of the most important counting instruments in ancient China and was called by some western writers as "the earliest calculating machine in the world". The abacus was invented during the late Song Dynasty (960-1279) and the early Yuan Dynasty (1280-1368). A standard Chinese abacus consists of a frame divided by a middle bar into an upper and lower deck, with eight parallel rods running from top to bottom. Each rod has five beads on the lower deck and two beads on the upper deck. For calculations, each bead on a given wire on the lower deck has the same value: either ten or some multiple or submultiples of ten. The beads on the upper deck have a value of five each. Calculations on a Chinese abacus are performed by placing the abacus flat on a table or one's flap and manipulating the beads with the fingers of one hand. People need nimble fingers to do it fast. Beads in the lower deck are moved up with the thumb and down with the index finger, with the middle or index finger used on the upper deck. Beads are counted by moving them towards the middle bar. The right-most rod is usually the ones column; to the left is the tens column next to which is the hundreds rod, and so on. After five beads are counted in the lower deck, the result is carried to the upper deck; after both beads in the upper deck are counted, the result (10) is then carried to the left-most adjacent rod. Decimals can be counted by choosing a space between two rows to designate the decimal point. All the rods to the right of that space then represent fractional portions.
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