Abacus
While the abacus was not actually invented by the Sung dynasty, it was popularized during it. This is because, during this dynasty, a painter named Hang Zeduan, in a painting called "Riverside Scenes", painted an abacus beside a book. Apparently, this painting was very popular, as it encouraged people to use abacuses for doing mathematical calculations.
Date of Invention:
Originally around 190 AD;
popularized during the Sung dynasty (960-1127 AD)
Inventor:
The original inventor is unknown, but it was popularized by
Hang Zeduan.
Importance to Chinese civilization:
Was used as a method of calculating
numbers rapidly, helping people in many scientific and mathematical fields
produce many of the inventions and discoveries that they did.
Importance to other civilizations:
They were never very
popular outside of China; they didn't even spread to Japan until the Ming dynasty
(1368 - 1644 AD).
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