The Chinese numerical system is
very simple, but it’s an effective system that goes back to second millennium
BCE. They expressed the numbers by adjusting bamboo rods alongside each other
to represent the numbers one to ten. They even invented the decimals place
value that looks similar to the modern day, this system was very complicated
and was adapted by the western world later; but they didn’t have any definition
or concept for zero. The Chinese mathematics development was related to the
growth of the Chinese empire. The Chinese need for solving equations and
discovering new unknown number from common information made the discovery and
the use of a sophisticated matrix-based method which it did not appear in the
western world until the 18th century.
I haven't study the history of mathematics in depth. I have alway been told that the Hindu-Arabic numerals was adopted by almost everyone and spread through trading. I don't know why western civilizations would want to adapt a complicated system or a system that didn't have a concept of zero, but I do find it interesting as to what systems, western civilizations adapted from Asian cultures.
ReplyDeleteThe history is always full of interesting things, not only in mathematics but the western world adapted many cultural traditions from the Asian cultures that it is seen in the modern day all over the western world.
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