The ancients didn't have calculators. What tools do they use to calculate?

1. Calculating and raising funds, also called suàn, plan and strategy, is a small stick made of bamboo, wood, bone and stone, which can be used to represent numbers. For example, "three" is represented by three calculations; Besides counting, calculations can be arranged in different locations to represent specific mathematical models.

Calculation is the main calculation tool from pre-Qin to Song and Yuan Dynasties. Lao Zi records that "good numbers don't need to be counted", which means that people who are good at arithmetic can get correct results without counting. From the pre-Qin Dynasty to the Song and Yuan Dynasties, simple addition and subtraction operations, square root and precise calculation of pi were generally completed by means of calculation.

Second, the abacus consists of four parts: frame, beam, file and bead. Its shape is rectangular. The commonly used abacus is the seven-bead abacus, with two beads above and five beads below. You can add, subtract, multiply and divide by moving the beads in the upper and lower cells according to a certain formula. Its formula is also called abacus formula, and many of them have been fixed as idioms, such as "three times five divided by two", which are used to describe things and actions simply and neatly. Other formulas such as "in any case" and "99 return 1" have also become proverbs.

When the abacus appeared is still inconclusive, but one thing is certain: the ancient abacus with similar structure and usage to today's abacus appeared in the Song Dynasty, and there was a five-character quatrain entitled "abacus" in the collection of Mr. Jing Xiu in the Yuan Dynasty.

Compared with calculation, the abacus is convenient to dial the beads, and the formula is easy to learn and remember, so it is very convenient to use it to calculate. Later, abacus calculation spread to Korea, Japan, Southeast Asia, Poland, Russia and other countries, and UNESCO officially listed abacus calculation in the list of intangible cultural heritage of mankind.

Finally, calculation and abacus are the crystallization of ancient wisdom. Although the calculation time may be longer than that of modern calculators, the calculation method contains the wisdom of the ancients and also mobilizes people's mental work.