The second Chinese numbering system
The second Chinese numbering system
The second Chinese numbering system uses bars, but with the same characteristic of the first. This system is positional, as ours, and each position is marked by only one symbol. and it was conceived among the centuries II B.C. and III A.D. See below some examples of how the system was formed.
Great Wall of China
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| Folding representing the Great Wall of China (picture taken by Samara) |
Chinese mathematics
The Chinese mathematics has not resulted of an isolated phenomenon. There have always been considerable commercial and cultural relationships with other areas.
Among others, the Chinese numbering system is one of the oldest.
The Chinese science left its marks in the science of other societies. We think the decimal system and the negative numbers might have come from China.
The Chinese numbering system is different from other numbering systems because it uses multiples of 10, 100 and 1000. A curiosity of this system is that it uses a vertical writing.
