Gao Pragmatic did learn a few abacus lessons when he was a child, but unfortunately, these things were never used and had been returned to the teacher long ago. Therefore, he really had nothing to communicate with Gao Guoyan about abacus. , but in the subsequent conversation, the two of them talked about the teacher Gao Guoyan who once asked him a difficult question when he refused to accept him as a disciple. As a result, Gao Guoyan actually solved the question, and then he got the position. Column wall.
Gao pragmatic smiled and asked what the topic was. Gao Guoyan said: "The topic is, one hundred monks are divided into one hundred steamed buns, the big monk eats three each, and the three little monks eat one. Ask the big monk and the little monk each How many?"
Gao Pragmatic immediately ordered someone to take out a pen and paper, "drew talismans" on it, and replied: "Twenty-five senior monks and seventy-five junior monks."
Gao Guoyan was taken aback, holding up the "ghost painting talisman" that he couldn't understand at all and asked: "What is this thing you wrote? This... seems to be a foreign language?"
It turns out that what Gao Jingshi wrote on the rice paper he used as a draft paper was an extremely common problem-solving method in later generations:
100÷(3+1)=25(portions)
25×3=75 (people)
25×1=25 (people)
Since Gao Pragmatic was a liberal arts student and his mathematics level was average after all, he didn't even use a system of equations to express it, but even so, Gao Guoyan was extremely surprised.
Gao pragmatic smiled and replied: "The numbers above are...well, Dashi numbers, also called Arabic numerals. I heard that some merchants doing sea trade in the south found it quite convenient, so they used them. It's probably the same." This is how it was introduced to our Ming Dynasty."
In fact, what Gao Pragmatic said is wrong. Arabic numerals were actually invented by the ancient Indians. After the Arabs introduced them to Europe, the Europeans "modernized" them. It was just because the Europeans got them from the Arabs, so They mistakenly thought it was an Arab invention, and Gao pragmatically had the same misunderstanding as most people on these issues.
Fortunately, it doesn't matter who invented it, and Gao Guoyan's attention was not focused on it. Instead, he stared at it for a while and then asked: "Although I don't recognize these, I guess they are probably numbers, but... ...What does this horizontal line in the middle and two points above and below mean? And what does this 'cross' mean?"
The rest of the people present looked like they were reading from heaven. Their eyes when they looked at Gao Pragmatic changed, and they thought to themselves: I have heard that the young master of the Liufang family is a child prodigy. It seems that this statement is true. God knows everything. Although he didn't know geography, he could even recognize barbarian writing. How much ability does this have?
But Gao Pragmatic is really tired at the moment and doesn't want to continue to dwell on this issue - Gao Guoyan is obviously a math madman. When talking about this to him, can't it be explained clearly in a few words? So he put on a troubled look and said with a wry smile: "Brother Sanhuai, the two symbols you asked about are called the division sign and the multiplication sign, but these things are not something we can mess with in a short while. I understand, I think otherwise, let’s arrange the next things first, and when I have time to go to Sanshen Garden, we can have a good discussion on these academic issues, how about that?”
When Gao Guoyan heard this, the disappointment on his face was palpable, but fortunately, after accepting a disciple from a big man, he felt that people with great talents must also have weird tempers, and most of them cannot be forced, so although he felt that He was so anxious that he felt like a cat was scratching his claws, so he had no choice but to agree: "Okay, okay, it's all up to you, but it's pragmatic. You have to agree to my brother. Next time, you must take some time to talk to your brother about this matter." Son is very important, really, very important.”
Gao Pingshi smiled and said: "I understand, I understand... Then let's get down to business first?"
"Okay, let's get down to business, let's get down to business." Although Gao Guoyan said this, his eyes kept staring at Gao Pingshi's scratch paper. Obviously, in his opinion, understanding this number and algorithm is the real business.
Gao Pragmatic didn't bother to pay attention to this kind of math madman, and said directly: "Brother Sanhuai, I invited you here this time just to borrow your talent in mathematics... Oh, I mean math, help me. busy."
Gao Guoyan was startled and said hesitantly: "But when I solved this problem, I was much slower than you were just now. Although...well, although I don't want to admit it, I think your talent in mathematics is just as good as mine. Especially since you are also good at...well, this big food algorithm, what other problems can you solve that you can't solve yourself and need my help with?"
"It's not arithmetic." Gao Pinggong said honestly. Is there anything else in your mind besides arithmetic? But he could only explain: "Brother, you have to know that numerology itself is just a method, and the method itself has no meaning. Its meaning is to solve problems."
"Huh? Method...is used to solve problems?" Gao Guoyan seemed to have never thought about this kind of problem before, and was a little slow to react.
Gao Pragmatic nodded and said very seriously: "Yes, the significance of the method is that people can use it to solve the actual problems they face. This is like... well, it is like why the words of the sage almost never tell you that when you What should you do when faced with a very specific thing? They will only tell you how to correctly understand this type of thing, so that you can come up with specific solutions to the problem yourself."
Gao Pragmatic's statement is obviously a certain argument he had when he first studied Ma Zhe: philosophy is a worldview and methodology. However, this statement itself is controversial, and he does not really understand it, but it is okay to use it to fool Gao Guoyan. After all, Confucianism is a philosophy in the eyes of foreigners, and many foreign scholars are describing the talents and academics of ancient China. Sometimes, I always like to say that "Chinese scholars are all philosophers", and this is the truth.
After hearing this, Gao Guoyan felt that it made sense, but he didn't seem to fully understand it, so he fell into a state of "unconsciousness". Subconsciously he only thought: This little brother of mine is really a prodigy. I almost don’t understand it, but I still think it makes sense!
Seeing that Gao Guoyan did not refute, Gao pragmatically did not want to continue rambling. He quickly brought the topic back again and said: "So I hope that my brother will go to Sanshenyuan to delegate some of the power for me. To be precise, I can arrange a position. , called...financial director."
The word "financial director" is a new word, but both "finance" and "director" are old words in Ming Dynasty. Together, there is nothing incomprehensible. It can even be said that it is clear at a glance, and you know where the boundaries of power are when you hear it. , it was so clear that even people like Gao Guoyan immediately understood what Gao Pragmatic asked him to do.
At that moment, Gao Guoyan nodded and said: "If you just check the accounts, I am confident that I can still do it."
But Gao Pragmatic shook his head: "It's not just about checking the accounts, but also making a budget, and these budgets must have room for adjustment at any time."
