Rod calculus (nonfiction)

Yang Hui triangle, as depicted by Zhu Shijie in 1303, using rod numerals.

Japanese counting board with grids.

Rod calculus or rod calculation is the mechanical method of algorithmic computation with counting rods in China from the Warring States to Ming dynasty before the counting rods were replaced by the more convenient and faster abacus.

Rod calculus played a key role in the development of Chinese mathematics to its height in Song Dynasty and Yuan Dynasty, culminating in the invention of polynomial equations of up to four unknowns in the work of Zhu Shijie.

Fiction cross-reference

• Crimes against mathematical constants
• Gnomon algorithm
• Gnomon Chronicles
• Mathematician
• Mathematics

Nonfiction cross-reference

• Mathematician (nonfiction)
• Mathematics (nonfiction)
• Zhu Shijie (nonfiction)

External links:

• Counting rods @ Wikipedia
• Rod calculus @ Wikipedia