"old days, weighing was done with a beam balance to make equal splits. It would be easier to split a heap of grains into sixteen equal parts through successive divisions than to split into ten parts. Chinese Taoists did finger computation on the trigrams and hexagrams by counting the finger tips and joints of the fingers with the tip of the thumb. Each hand can count up to 16 in such manner. The Chinese abacus uses two upper beads to represent the 5s and 5 lower beads to represent the 1s, the 7 beads can represent a hexadecimal digit from"
"Chisanbop Chisanbop or chisenbop (from Korean ""chi (ji)"" finger + ""sanpŏp (sanbeop)"" calculation 지산법/指算法) is an abacus-like finger counting method used to perform basic mathematical operations. According to ""The Complete Book of Chisanbop"" by Hang Young Pai, chisanbop was created in the 1940s in Korea by Sung Jin Pai and revised by his son Hang Young Pai. He then brought the system to the United States c. 1977. With this method it is possible to display all numbers from 0 to 99 with two hands. The hands are held in a relaxed posture on or above a table. All fingers"
"the book ""Pi in the Sky,"" by John D. Barrow. Finger-counting systems in use in many regions of Asia allow the counting to 12 by using a single hand. The thumb acts as a pointer touching the three finger bones of each finger in turn, starting with the outermost bone of the little finger. One hand is used to count numbers up to 12. The other hand is used to display the number of completed base-12s. This continues until twelve dozen is reached, therefore 144 is counted. Chinese number gestures count up to 10 but can exhibit some regional differences."
"toes). Older finger counting used the four fingers and the three bones in each finger (phalanges) to count to the number twelve. Other hand-gesture systems are also in use, for example the Chinese system by which one can count to 10 using only gestures of one hand. By using finger binary (base 2 counting), it is possible to keep a finger count up to . Various devices can also be used to facilitate counting, such as hand tally counters and abacuses. Inclusive counting is usually encountered when dealing with time in the Romance languages. In exclusive counting languages such as"
"Chinese number gestures Chinese number gestures are a method to signify the natural numbers one through ten using one hand. This method may have been developed to bridge the many varieties of Chinese—for example, the numbers 4 () and 10 () are hard to distinguish in some dialects. Some suggest that it was also used by business people during bargaining (i.e., to convey a bid by feeling the hand gesture in a sleeve) when they wish for more privacy in a public place. These gestures are fully integrated into Chinese Sign Language. While the five digits on one hand can"
"the gesture signifies the number three when held a bit lower than the signs used to represent the sun. Regional forms of finger counting used in China also employ the raised middle, ring and pinky fingers to express the number three, either with thumb and index fingers joined as they are in the OK gesture or in a similar configuration. This number gesture is primarily used in China's southern provinces, while in the north ""three"" may also be expressed by the raised index, middle and ring fingers as it is in English-speaking countries. Both methods are distinct from having the"
"Additionally, this method is the least abstract way to count using two hands that reflects the concept of positional notation, as the movement from one position to the next is done by switching from one hand to another. While most developed cultures count by fingers up to 5 in very similar ways, beyond 5 non-Western cultures deviate from Western methods, such as with Chinese number gestures. As senary finger counting also deviates only beyond 5, this counting method rivals the simplicity of traditional counting methods, a fact which may have implications for the teaching of positional notion to young students."
"Stroke count method The Stroke Count Method (simplified Chinese: 笔画; pinyin: bǐ huà), ""Wubihua method"", ""Stroke input method"" or ""Bihua IME"" ( or ) (lit. ""5-stroke input method"") is a relatively simple Chinese input method for writing text on a computer or a mobile phone. It is based on the stroke order of a word, not pronunciation. It uses five or six buttons, and is often placed on a numerical keypad. Although it is possible to input Traditional Chinese characters with this method, this method is often associated with Simplified Chinese characters. The Wubihua method should not be confused with"
"Cun (unit) The cun (; ; ), often glossed as the ""Chinese inch"", is a traditional Chinese unit of length. Its traditional measure is the width of a person's thumb at the knuckle, whereas the width of the two forefingers denotes 1.5 cun and the width of four fingers (except the thumb) side-by-side is three cuns. In this sense it continues to be used to chart acupuncture points on the human body in various uses of traditional Chinese medicine. The cun was part of a larger system, and represented one-tenth of a chi (""Chinese foot""). In time the lengths were"
"Finger-counting Finger-counting, also known as dactylonomy, is the act of counting using one's fingers. There are multiple different systems used across time and between cultures, though many of these have seen a decline in use because of the spread of Arabic numerals. Finger-counting can serve as a form of manual communication, particularly in marketplace trading – including hand signaling during open outcry in floor trading – and also in games such as morra. Finger-counting is known to go back to ancient Egypt at least, and probably even further back. Complex systems of dactylonomy were used in the ancient world. The"
"on their phones, until touchscreen-based Smartphones allowed the possibility of Handwriting recognition. Wubihua is one of the easiest to learn methods because it is simple and does not require knowledge of pronunciation or Pinyin. However, it tends to be vague, as a Wubihua code will normally match ten characters, and each character has one correct code, which confuses users whose stroke orders are wrong. Strokes map to Wubihua input generally according to the following table: Stroke count method The Stroke Count Method (simplified Chinese: 笔画; pinyin: bǐ huà), ""Wubihua method"", ""Stroke input method"" or ""Bihua IME"" ( or ) (lit."
"represents 1, the index and middle fingers represents 2, and so on until the index, middle, ring, and little fingers represents 4, and the four fingers plus the thumb represents 5. This continues on to the other hand, where the entire one hand plus the index finger of the other hand means 6, and so on. Finger-counting Finger-counting, also known as dactylonomy, is the act of counting using one's fingers. There are multiple different systems used across time and between cultures, though many of these have seen a decline in use because of the spread of Arabic numerals. Finger-counting can"
"History of ancient numeral systems Numeral systems have progressed from the use of tally marks, more than 40,000 years ago, through to the use of sets of glyphs to efficiently represent any conceivable number. The first method of counting has been argued to be counting on fingers. This evolved into sign language for the hand-to-eye-to-elbow communication of numbers which, while not writing, gave way to written numbers. Tallies made by carving notches in wood, bone, and stone were used for at least forty thousand years. These tally marks may have been used for counting elapsed time, such as numbers of"
"pictographs, but these theories have been disproved. History of ancient numeral systems Numeral systems have progressed from the use of tally marks, more than 40,000 years ago, through to the use of sets of glyphs to efficiently represent any conceivable number. The first method of counting has been argued to be counting on fingers. This evolved into sign language for the hand-to-eye-to-elbow communication of numbers which, while not writing, gave way to written numbers. Tallies made by carving notches in wood, bone, and stone were used for at least forty thousand years. These tally marks may have been used for"
"remembering the answer (a ""memory"" strategy), but a toddler would probably use one of a number of different finger-counting strategies. For example, one can represent the first addend (3) on one's left hand by raising three fingers, and then do the same with four fingers on the right hand, and then count up the number of fingers that are raised. But there are many other ways to do this. For example, one can do the same first step (raise three fingers on one's left hand), and then start counting from 4 as one raises four more fingers one at a"
"the beads to do the calculation. A 5+1 suanpan appeared in Ming dynasty, an illustration in a 1573 book on suanpan showed a suanpan with one bead on top and five beads at the bottom. The evident similarity of the Roman abacus to the Chinese one suggests that one must have inspired the other, as there is strong evidence of a trade relationship between the Roman Empire and China. However, no direct connection can be demonstrated, and the similarity of the abaci could be coincidental, both ultimately arising from counting with five fingers per hand. Where the Roman model and"
"that appeared in the form of 2:5. The upper deck had two beads, and the bottom had five beads. ""You can make a number by hand,"" and ""Beads are counted."" It can be expressed in hexadecimal or any of the following numbers, and because the calculation method at that time is a Chinese catty equal to sixteen tael（一斤十六兩）which means hexadecimal, the abacus is designed as a two-five bead. ""Suanpan"" can be used for functions other than counting. Unlike the simple counting board used in elementary schools, very efficient suanpan techniques have been developed to do multiplication, division, addition, subtraction, square"
"It was found that although they could add large numbers quickly, they could not add them in their heads. The program was dropped. Grace Burton of the University of North Carolina said ""It doesn't teach the basic number facts, only to count faster. Adding and subtracting quickly are only a small part of mathematics."" Chisanbop Chisanbop or chisenbop (from Korean ""chi (ji)"" finger + ""sanpŏp (sanbeop)"" calculation 지산법/指算法) is an abacus-like finger counting method used to perform basic mathematical operations. According to ""The Complete Book of Chisanbop"" by Hang Young Pai, chisanbop was created in the 1940s in Korea by"
"reach 71 digits. In ancient China, values for included 3.1547 (around 1 AD), (100 AD, approximately 3.1623), and (3rd century, approximately 3.1556). Around 265 AD, the Wei Kingdom mathematician Liu Hui created a polygon-based iterative algorithm and used it with a 3,072-sided polygon to obtain a value of of 3.1416. Liu later invented a faster method of calculating and obtained a value of 3.14 with a 96-sided polygon, by taking advantage of the fact that the differences in area of successive polygons form a geometric series with a factor of 4. The Chinese mathematician Zu Chongzhi, around 480 AD, calculated"
"representing bowing. When playing ""drinking finger games"" (划拳, 猜拳), slightly different sets of finger gestures of numbers is used. One of them is: The gesture of the digit 0 is used for showing numbers like 20, 30, 40, etc, where the left hand shows the tens digit and the right hand shows the digit 0. Chinese number gestures Chinese number gestures are a method to signify the natural numbers one through ten using one hand. This method may have been developed to bridge the many varieties of Chinese—for example, the numbers 4 () and 10 () are hard to distinguish"
"foot. Chi (unit) The chi is a traditional Chinese unit of length. Although it is often translated as the """", its length was originally derived from the distance measured by a human hand, from the tip of the thumb to the tip of the forefinger similar to the ancient Span. It first appeared during China's Shang dynasty approximately 3000 years ago and has since been adopted by other East Asian cultures such as Japan (""shaku""), Korea (""ja""), and Vietnam. Its present value is standardized around one-third of a metre, although the exact standards vary among the mainland of the People's"
"(725), entitled ""Tractatus de computo, vel loquela per gestum digitorum"", which allowed counting up to 9,999 on two hands, though it was apparently little-used for numbers of 100 or more. This system remained in use through the European Middle Ages, being presented in slightly modified form by Luca Pacioli in his seminal ""Summa de arithmetica"" (1494). Finger-counting varies between cultures and over time, and is studied by ethnomathematics. Cultural differences in counting are sometimes used as a shibboleth, particularly to distinguish nationalities in war time. These form a plot point in the film ""Inglourious Basterds,"" by Quentin Tarantino, and in"
"Tie ban shen shu Tie Ban Shen Shu (in Simplified: 铁板神数; Traditional: 鐵板神數; Pinyin: Tiě Bǎn Shén Shù = iron plate spiritual numerology) is an ancient form of divination from China, which is still in use in China, Taiwan, Singapore and the Chinese diaspora in Southeast Asia. Tie ban shen shu is regarded as among the most accurate and most difficult methods of personal fortune divination. Tie Ban is as well regarded as the collective Three Arts or Three Styles (三式 sān shì), Qi Men Dun Jia, Da Liu Ren and Tai Yi Shen Shu, China's highest metaphysical arts. Tie"
"good number in Chinese culture because it sounds like the word ""alive"" ( pinyin ""shēng"", Cantonese: ""saang""), compared to four (, pinyin: ""sì"", Cantonese: ""sei""), which sounds like the word ""death"" ( pinyin ""sǐ"", Cantonese: ""sei""). Counting to three is common in situations where a group of people wish to perform an action in synchrony: ""Now, on the count of three, everybody pull!"" Assuming the counter is proceeding at a uniform rate, the first two counts are necessary to establish the rate, and the count of ""three"" is predicted based on the timing of the ""one"" and ""two"" before it."
"into three positions on each wrist. The first pulse closest to the wrist is the ""cun"" (inch, 寸) position, the second ""guan"" (gate, 關), and the third pulse position furthest away from the wrist is the ""chi"" (foot, 尺). There are several systems of diagnostic interpretation of pulse findings utilised in the Chinese medicine system. Some systems (Cun Kou) utilise overall pulse qualities, looking at changes in the assessed parameters of the pulse to derive one of the traditional 28 pulse types. Other approaches focus on individual pulse positions, looking at changes in the pulse quality and strength within the"
"developed in the 13th century by Guo Shoujing (1231–1316). He also simplified the counting rods technique by outlining short cuts in algorithm procedures used on the counting board, an idea expanded on by the mathematician Yang Hui (1238–1298). Victor J. Katz asserts that Shen's method of ""dividing by 9, increase by 1; dividing by 8, increase by 2,"" was a direct forerunner to the rhyme scheme method of repeated addition ""9, 1, bottom add 1; 9, 2, bottom add 2"". Shen wrote extensively about what he had learned while working for the state treasury, including mathematical problems posed by computing"
"means quick and decisive; ‘3 times 7 equals 21’ indicates quick and rash; and in some places of China, there is a custom of telling children’s fortune by placing various daily necessities before them on their first birthday and letting them choose one to predict their future lives. Among the items is an abacus, which symbolizes wisdom and wealth. Chinese Zhusuan Zhusuan (; literally: ""bead calculation"") is the knowledge and practices of arithmetic calculation through the suanpan or Chinese abacus. In the year 2013, it has been inscribed on the UNESCO Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity."
"techniques: ""pi"" 〈劈〉 (thumb pluck outwards), ""tuo"" 〈托〉 (thumb pluck inwards), ""mo"" 〈抹〉 (index in), ""tiao"" 〈挑〉 (index out), ""gou"" 〈勾〉 (middle in), ""ti"" 〈剔〉 (middle out), ""da"" 〈打〉 (ring in), and ""zhai"" 〈摘〉 (ring out); the little finger is not used. Out of these basic eight, their combinations create many. ""Cuo"" 〈撮〉 is to pluck two strings at the same time, ""lun"" 〈輪/轮〉 is to pluck a string with the ring, middle and index finger out in quick succession, the ""suo"" 〈鎖/锁〉 technique involves plucking a string several times in a fixed rhythm, ""bo"" 〈撥/拔〉 cups the fingers and"
"Chi (unit) The chi is a traditional Chinese unit of length. Although it is often translated as the """", its length was originally derived from the distance measured by a human hand, from the tip of the thumb to the tip of the forefinger similar to the ancient Span. It first appeared during China's Shang dynasty approximately 3000 years ago and has since been adopted by other East Asian cultures such as Japan (""shaku""), Korea (""ja""), and Vietnam. Its present value is standardized around one-third of a metre, although the exact standards vary among the mainland of the People's Republic"
"also commonly refer to days of the week, starting from Monday, as well as months of the year, whose names in Chinese are enumerations. In different regions signs for numbers vary significantly. One may interpret the ""8"" sign as a ""7"". The ""index finger-hook"" symbol for 9, also means ""death"" in other contexts. The numbers zero through five are simpler: Counting with fingers is often different from expressing a specific number with a finger gesture. When counting, the palm can be either facing its owner or the audience, depending on the purpose. Before counting, all fingers are closed; counting starts"
"five, the appropriate number of fingers from the other hand are placed against the palm. For example, number 7 is represented by the index and middle finger pressed against the palm of the open hand. Number 10 is displayed by presenting both hands open with outward palms. In Korea, Chisanbop allows for signing any number between 0 and 99. The perhaps most common system of finger-counting is the one used in the Western world, where a finger is raised for each unit. While there are extensive differences between and even within countries, there are generally speaking two systems. The main"
"counting all of the marks when done tallying. This is useful when counting objects over time, such as the number of times something occurs during the course of a day. Tallying is base 1 counting; normal counting is done in base 10. Computers use base 2 counting (0's and 1's). Counting can also be in the form of finger counting, especially when counting small numbers. This is often used by children to facilitate counting and simple mathematical operations. Finger-counting uses unary notation (one finger = one unit), and is thus limited to counting 10 (unless you start in with your"
"be quickly multiplied to about three places of accuracy. Beginning in the early 20th century, mechanical calculators, such as the Marchant, automated multiplication of up to 10 digit numbers. Modern electronic computers and calculators have greatly reduced the need for multiplication by hand. Methods of multiplication were documented in the Egyptian, Greek, Indian and Chinese civilizations. The Ishango bone, dated to about 18,000 to 20,000 BC, hints at a knowledge of multiplication in the Upper Paleolithic era in Central Africa. The Egyptian method of multiplication of integers and fractions, documented in the Ahmes Papyrus, was by successive additions and doubling."