Colloquium for November 11, 2008
Description:
| From at least 400 BCE until the appearance of the abacus around 1400 CE, counting rods were the principal tool for calculation in China. Although there was no symbol for zero, rod numerals share a base-ten positional notation with the Hindu-Arabic numerals. In my presentation, I will describe how counting rods were used to multiply, divide, and extract square roots. I will also present the argument given by Lam Lay Yong and Ang Tian Se that identifies the rod numeral system as the origin of the Hindu-Arabic numerals.
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Contact Channa Navaratna <channa@iup.edu>, 724-357-4762, for more information.
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