算盘（abacus）的记载，最早出现在东汉（Eastern Han Dynasty）末期（西元25-220年），由数学家徐岳所撰写的《数术记遗》之书中。算盘是古代计算数字的工具，其功用有点类似今天的计算机。算盘的形状为长方形，一般采用木制材质来制作（现今也用塑胶或其他的材质），里面有一横杆把木珠分为上下两个部份，上面的木珠每个代表数字5，下面的木珠每个代表数字1， 基本的运算方式可包含加、减、乘、除，这种计算方法我们叫做珠算。
也有人把珠算的运算法则转变为珠心算(mental abacus)，其原理是把算盘的形象描绘在脑海中，透过珠算的运算法则，纵然没有实际形体的算盘在眼前可操作，但事实上可以在脑海中运用影像法来计算数字也就是心算。
|
|
相关连结
1. The Science Frontiers website has some interesting pages about calculating prodigies, which seems like a topic related to mental abacus.
2. This fascinating paper (actually, a book chapter) on Culture and Cognition (by Richard Nisbett and Ara Norenzayan) has, on page ten, a discussion of abacus users (pdf). If you’re ever interested in cultural differences in thought, look for the work of Richard Nisbett. He’s an expert in that field.
3. Here is a paper titled Change of Mental Representation with the Expertise of Mental Abacus (available in pdf) by Hidenari Negishi, Kazuhiro Ueda, Mitsugu Kuriyama, Masaharu Kato, Hideo Kawaguchi, and Hirokazu Atsumori.
4. Here is a Chinese language (traditional characters) website describing the history of the Chinese abacus, and mentioning Xu Yueh’s part in its history.
5. Another Chinese language article (traditional characters) about the abacus. This one says the Chinese abacus is one of the 101 most important inventions in human history.
6. This page from the Bookrags website gives a very thorough description of the history of the abacus, using descriptions from various reference sources on the Internet. Some sources claim an abacus was used in Babylon about 4,200 years ago, and many sources claim the abacus was not invented in China.
7. Finally, you can read page 32 from the Shorter Science and Civilisation in China: An Abridgement (of Joseph Needham's work by Colin A. Ronan) about the history of the abacus.
