How early did the multiplication table become popular? Bricklayers in the Han Dynasty could recite it.

Although there are some minor mistakes, it is a testimony to the popularity of the Han Dynasty's arithmetic.

The multiplication formula we know by heart

1800 years ago in the Eastern Han Dynasty

Carved on brick

40 numbers stacked crookedly in two columns

The people who wrote them seemed a little careless

Wrong spelling of "七"

It's like looking in the mirror at my original self

The order of "Sanjiu", "Erjiu" and "Sijiu" is also a bit confusing

But their appearance

Archaeological experts are overjoyed

This is the first time that brick inscriptions on Han tombs have been found in China.

Discover the multiplication formula

This brick with the formula engraved on it

It is also a study of the history of mathematics in the Han Dynasty.

Provides valuable physical information

△ Pottery bricks with inscriptions on them: “Multiplication formula”

1981

"Multiplication Formula" Engraved Ceramic Brick

Unearthed from the Eastern Han Tomb in Honghuayuan, Nantou, Shenzhen

At first glance it looks a bit ordinary

On the mottled surface

The diamond pattern accounts for two-thirds

Another third was wiped out

The multiplication formula is engraved in Han Li version

△ Pottery bricks with inscriptions on them: “Multiplication formula”

These two columns of text are sufficient to prove that

1800 years ago, the people of Lingnan lived in remote areas

I have mastered the multiplication formula

The clay is not dry yet, and the craftsman carves it casually

Prove that "Nine-Nine Songs" was already a "popular song" in the Han Dynasty

The multiplication formula is also called "Nine-Nine Song"

There are only 40 numbers on this tile

No formal signature or inscription

So who wrote on the tiles?

△ A rubbing of a ceramic brick with the inscription "Nine-Nine Multiplication Formula"

According to archaeological experts

The engraving of these two lines of multiplication formulas

A brick-making craftsman

He reviewed it while the bricks were still wet.

Multiplication formulas related to "nine"

The undried clay increases the difficulty of engraving

Therefore, the handwriting has a clumsy and cute feeling.

According to the error rate of the two lines of formulas

Expert speculation

The engraver may have had limited education

But in between the work of firing the ceramic tiles

I wrote down the multiplication table at random.

This shows that the "Nine-Nine Song"

Already widely circulated

Becoming a "popular song" that can be easily sung

From sentence 36 to sentence 45, from reverse to normal

Two iterations and upgrades of Jiujiu Song

The multiplication table is the basic calculation rule of mathematical operations.

As early as the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period

Already widely used

There are records in Xunzi and Guanzi.

The earliest archaeological discoveries in my country

The most complete multiplication table

The following is the simplified multiplication formula

△The bamboo slips of the multiplication formula are collected in the Liye Qin Bamboo Slips Museum

Early multiplication formula

Arranged in reverse order from largest to smallest

And there is no formula related to "one"

Starting from "Ninety-nine Eighty-one"

Until "two two equals four"

Around 4th century AD

Multiplication formulas were gradually added

Multiplication involving the number one

Expanded to the 45 sentences we are familiar with

This is its first "iteration"

In Jia Sixie's "Qimin Yaoshu"

"Nine-nine" is a must-learn chapter for children aged 9-14

△ "Qimin Yaoshu" (from the collection of China Agricultural Museum)

Starting from the Song Dynasty

The order of the formula is no longer reversed

From "one one" to "nine nine"

After two "updates and upgrades"

The multiplication formula has become the current version 3.0

Handwritten words

The secret that has been passed down orally till now

Five thousand years of civilization inheritance, never interrupted