Chapter 295 New Mathematics

"Sir, is that so?" The children held the brown sugar and garlic water, not daring to eat it.

The silkworms on the winnowing basket are too small. I have never heard of feeding silkworms in this way.

"Well, that's right. The silkworms are small, so just spray them lightly." Su Ying nodded.

"Aying!" Madam Zheng pulled Su Ying aside and asked, "Are you really willing to teach this technique to others?"

Needless to say, the value of this colorful silkworm is very high. Everyone knows that it is worth a lot of money.

There is also brown sugar, garlic and water to fatten the silkworms. No wonder the Su family's cocoons are so big and bright, they are really willing to spend money!

Madam Zheng felt distressed when she saw this. Su Ying was such a spendthrift. She didn't hide anything and just told everyone everything.

"Don't worry, sister, these children will be the managers and technical instructors of the colored silkworms in the future!" Su Ying smiled.

These are all reliable people. Even if the colored silkworms are raised on a large scale, they are only raised within a certain range and will not be taken out easily. A lot of manpower is needed and they must be trained early.

After the second season of silkworms hatched, Su Ying not only taught the women in the village publicly, but also called several capable girls such as Diexiu from Jinfeng Village to learn.

They even let their own silkworms be raised by their children, regardless of whether they were boys or girls.

Boys and girls alike can all raise silkworms, and once they learn it, it can be a way to make a living in the future.

As for the subsequent silk reeling and weaving, they have always been done by women, which requires dexterity, and silk cannot be handled by rough fingers.

Boys and girls were mixed into a group. The boys were very curious, but their mother at home raised silkworms and never let them get close to her.

They were afraid that they would be killed, but the master asked them to do it.

The children didn't dare to breathe. They washed their hands, chopped the mulberry leaves and sprinkled them on the flour sieve, then sprayed them with brown sugar and garlic water.

Each group has a literate girl as the team leader, who directs everyone's work and records the entire process of silkworm rearing.

The current daily courses include literacy, mathematics, and agriculture.

Most children outside Huanggou Village are illiterate and have to start from scratch.

Therefore, the literacy class for beginners starts with “Heaven, Earth, and Man”, and the math class starts with “One, Two, Three”.

The village children take more advanced courses in another classroom.

Agricultural science classes include labor classes such as raising silkworms, weeding in the fields, picking mulberry leaves, peeling sugarcane, harvesting honey, and learning to press oil.

This group of children were lucky, as they all had a set of pens, ink, paper, inkstone and abacus, unlike the previous children who had to use flour sieves to fill with sand to practice calligraphy.

With trembling little hands, after feeding the silkworms, the child found it very interesting to see the mulberry leaves covered with tiny black spots and gnawing on them diligently.

"Okay, time's up, it's time for math class!" Su Ying greeted the children.

"Hula!" The children ran back to the classroom.

The beginner class is taught by Yang Chunhua, and the in-depth class is taught by Su Ying.

Su Ying wrote strange words on the blackboard. The children looked at her quietly, not knowing what they were.

"Today we are going to learn something new!" Su Ying started off by stating the purpose.

"This is new math. The numbers written on the blackboard are another way of expressing it, called Arabic numerals."

Abacus only solves the problem of fast calculation speed, but it cannot solve the problem of writing calculations on paper. Chinese numbers are not convenient for complex calculations, and it is even more inconvenient to use vertical calculations.

After much hesitation, Su Ying decided to teach Arabic numerals. With them, a new accounting method could be used, which was clearer than the old-fashioned account books.

"0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9!" Every time Su Ying read one, she would write the corresponding Chinese number below so that the children could understand it at a glance.

The children who have been reading for almost a year have strong comprehension abilities. Once Su Ying finishes writing, the children will remember it.

"Sir, what's the difference between these numbers?" a girl asked.

"Of course!" Su Ying nodded, "Come on, Pei Yuyao, come up."

Pei Yuyao, who asked the question, came up. She is Pei Silang's daughter and Pei Yuzhen's cousin.

"You write three hundred and twenty-one." Su Ying said with a smile.

Pei Yuyao wrote, "Okay, sir!"

"Well, take a look at what I wrote in Arabic numerals!" Su Ying casually wrote down 321 and asked, "Everyone, take a look. What's the difference?"

The children looked at what Pei Yuyao wrote, and then looked at what Su Ying wrote.

"Sir's is short, concise and quick to write!"

"Right!" Su Ying praised, "Not only that! But also the computing speed."

"Why? Sir, don't we have an abacus?" The children were puzzled.

"If I don't have an abacus, I don't need counting rods and I can still figure it out quickly." Su Ying said with a smile.

Then he wrote several equations of addition, subtraction, multiplication and division on the blackboard and calculated them for the children to see.

The children's eyes widened. It was the first time they saw the beads on the abacus being used for calculations, replaced by specific numbers, and they could even see the calculation trajectory.

"Arabic numerals are not only useful for mathematical calculations, but can also be used to express organization. For example, if I have several things to say, I can list them one by one using 1, 2, 3, 4, and so on."

Su Ying said and wrote down 1, 2, 3, and then wrote different contents behind them.

"Sir, how do you do the accounting?" Pei Yuyao asked.

"Yuyao, that's a good question!" Su Ying praised. "Using this to do accounting is more intuitive and clear."

Su Ying drew a vertical and horizontal grid with a thick line in the middle. On the left was written "Incoming Account" and on the right was written "Outgoing Account". This is the simplest way to enter and exit the account.

"Sir, if someone adds numbers at the beginning or end, or changes numbers, like changing 1 to 4 or 7, wouldn't the account be messed up? How can I check the account?"

Pei Yuyao asked again.

Su Ying didn't expect Pei Yuyao to be so smart and understand things so quickly, and she thought of these things at once.

"Don't worry about this. First of all, each column corresponds to a different number of digits. They are not written randomly. I will explain it in detail later.

When writing the first digit on the left, put a symbol in front of it, such as "￥", to prevent others from adding numbers in front.

The subtotals on each page must be expressed in words in addition to Arabic numerals. This way, even if the Arabic numerals are changed, the subtotals cannot be changed!

Su Ying roughly talked about the use and expression of A Laobo's numbers.

"We'll spend quite a bit of time explaining this in detail later, including how to use various spreadsheets, which are very useful for bookkeeping and data comparison, as well as calculations and problem solving, which are all quite practical."

"Okay, let's stop here for today!" Su Ying said a lot of things and felt a little dry in the mouth. She saw Pei Silang looking out the window.

"Aying, what's your new lesson?" Pei Silang came in.

"New math, Arabic numerals, accounting, calculations, etc. are very practical." Su Ying said, "Have you chosen the beans?"

"Well, now that we've made our choice, what should we do next?" Pei Silang came specifically to ask Su Ying for guidance.

The first batch of soybeans and mung beans arrived yesterday, and Huanggou Village will fully switch to soybean oil extraction and mung bean vermicelli making.

The village elders unanimously decided to make soy sauce from the soybean cakes after oil extraction, taking a high-end route, not competing with Tongxian's soy products, and demarcating their respective customers.

Along with the soybeans came two families, a soy sauce maker and disaster victims from Hebei Province, who were assigned to Huanggou Village.