Xu Guangqi's eyes were full of thoughts, and he was drawing and calculating on the paper next to him.
"Calculated in this way, the new foot is approximately 33 centimeters. It has little impact on the carpenter's ruler and the tailoring ruler. They are all individual and can only be adjusted manually.
Secondly, it is less than half a centimeter different from the land measuring ruler. I have calculated the error of one acre, ten acres, or one hundred acres, and the error is not big. I think the length of the new ruler can be determined according to His Majesty's instructions. "
Chongzhen was very satisfied with Xu Guangqi's performance.
The field area at this time was not the 660 square meters of later generations. Instead, there were special regulations: five feet was a step, a step was 240 acres, and a hundred acres was an hectare.
If the error of the new ruler is too large, the entire Ming Dynasty's fields will have to be re-measured. The workload will be too great, which will have a great impact on taxation.
Obviously, Xu Guangqi considered it and verified the error before finally reaching a feasible conclusion.
"Since it's feasible, let's redefine the ruler according to this standard."
Having said this, he handed Xu Guangqi the ruler pattern he had just drawn on the table.
"This is my newly designed ruler, take a look!"
After Xu Guangqi took the paper, everyone gathered around and looked at the pattern on the paper with confusion in their eyes.
Only Xu Guangqi, Bi Maokang, and Sun Yuanhua had surprise in their eyes.
"Dean Xu, what's wrong with you?"
"Is there anything wrong with this ruler?"
Listening to everyone's inquiries, Xu Guangqi handed the paper to everyone: "Do you see any difference in this ruler?"
There is no difference in style between the new ruler and the original Ming Dynasty ruler.
Only the stars used to represent minutes and inches on the original ruler were changed to long and short horizontal lines, secondly, a millimeter scale was added, and thirdly, there were some more symbols than the original ruler.
It was these symbols that surprised Xu Guangqi and the others.
Yuan Keli looked at the patterns on the paper and wondered, "Dean Xu, what do these symbols mean?"
"It really has some background!"
After taking the paper, Xu Guangqi took up his pen and rewrote the symbols on another piece of white paper, making it easier for everyone to see clearly.
"Everyone, these symbols are called Tianzhu numerals, and now they are called Arabic numerals. Around the time of the Tang Dynasty, these numbers were introduced to the Tang Dynasty as Buddhism spread eastward.
But it was not accepted by the writing method at that time and has never been circulated. I have only seen records in some ancient books.
Then around the Southern Song Dynasty, Islam brought these numbers to the Central Plains, but failed again.
In recent years, some Western countries have come to the vicinity of the Ming Dynasty. Those of us who have received Western studies have contacted and translated some Western arithmetic works.
Because the Ming Dynasty did not promote it, for fear that it would not be understood, the numbers were changed into Chinese characters. Unexpectedly, His Majesty put this number on the ruler. "
After Xu Guangqi finished speaking, he marked the corresponding Arabic numbers on the paper with the Chinese characters one, two, three, etc. and the capital letters one, two, three, etc., so that everyone could see them clearly.
After listening to Xu Guangqi's explanation, everyone suddenly realized.
Chongzhen put down the tea cup and said calmly: "I have carefully considered the use of Arabic numerals. This kind of numerals has the characteristics of simple strokes, scientific structure, clear image, and short group number.
As you have also seen, the research on firearms and industry makes heavy use of numbers.
There are still a lot of calculations, and it is a bit complicated to write using Chinese characters and numbers.
Moreover, we will eventually integrate with overseas countries and will use it sooner or later, so it is better to use it in advance. "
Everyone nodded, but Sun Chengzong hesitated and whispered: "Your Majesty, I am still a little worried. Taizu was worried that someone would cheat with numbers, so he changed the numbers into Chinese characters.
I also have this drawback when viewing Arabic numerals. For example, one can be changed into four and seven, three can be changed into eight, five can be changed into nine, etc. If it is enabled, will it also be maliciously tampered with? "
"Mr. Sun Ge, your concern is right, but there is no solution."
Listening to Sun Chengzong's concerns, Xu Guangqi spoke up: "Mr. Sun Ge, why do people tamper with numbers? Because there are interests involved.
Such as account books, fish scale books, yellow books, chronological records, etc., they still use Chinese character numbers, or use Chinese character numbers and Arabic numerals together.
Don't even worry. If you change one or two data in a set of ledgers, it will inevitably be inconsistent with the previous one. This can be found out in a single check.
Arabic numerals can be used for things such as the number of pages in a book, units of measurement, etc.
It is even said that all the numbers will be changed to Arabic numerals. When the court issued an edict, the punishment for malicious modification was clearly stated. Under the heavy penalty, even if you want to tamper with it, you have to weigh it carefully. "
Everyone was silent, thinking about Xu Guangqi's analysis and the feasibility of Arabic numerals.
"Your Majesty, I think it's feasible!"
"Your Majesty, Arabic numerals can be promoted!"
…
After a while, everyone responded. With their knowledge, they naturally knew the convenience of using Arabic numerals.
Xu Guangqi then told everyone about the writing and recording methods of Arabic numerals, such as the distinction of digits and so on.
It also attracted everyone's admiration.
"The style of the new ruler is intuitive. Just by leaning on it, you can directly read the exact length of the measured object."
"Yes, unlike the previous rulers, the inches and minutes are engraved, but only the first inch is marked, so it's not intuitive to measure!"
"Also, Your Majesty has added centimeters, centimeters... meters and millimeters, which are more accurate!"
"The new unit of length is formulated, coupled with Arabic numerals, they complement each other perfectly!"
"Your Majesty is a great talent. With the promotion of the new ruler, the work speed will be greatly increased!"
…
The ministers expressed their opinions one after another.
This is the ability of these big guys. They tell the truth and flatter each other, but Chongzhen is very happy to hear it.
"The ruler and Arabic numerals work together, but I don't think you can read it yet, so I'll demonstrate it to you!"
After Chongzhen finished speaking, he took the carpenter's ruler, picked up the ink pen and wrote a few numbers on it, and leaned the ruler against the paperweight on the desk.
"We don't have a new ruler, so I'll use this instead to demonstrate. The inches and minutes on it represent the decimeters and centimeters on the new ruler. You just need to understand this.
This paperweight is twenty centimeters, and its width is five centimeters...and five millimeters. "
Speaking of this, Chongzhen frowned. Although there is a concept of decimals now, the name is very strange.
Just when he was considering whether to also promote the expression method of decimal point, a voice sounded.
"Your Majesty, I have an idea."
Everyone followed the sound and found that the person who made the sound was Sun Yuanhua, and everyone became curious.
Chongzhen was also curious and said: "If Sun Aiqing has any fantastic ideas, please tell me!"
