"Before answering this question, let me ask you, what is heaven? And what is the earth? Zhang Miao didn't answer directly, but asked.

Zhang Miao knew that in order to prevent some people from refuting indiscriminately, he had to define the concept first, and he could not mix philosophical issues with science, so he would not be able to explain it even if he had nine mouths.

"Well—" Kuai Yue opened his mouth, not knowing how to say it.

For many people, the sky has always been an awe-inspiring existence, and people's feelings about the sky are very complicated. But what exactly is the sky? How can it be said clearly in one sentence?

"The sky is high above, how can ordinary people speculate about its height? Brother Xenodu, shouldn't you embarrass such a teenager with such a question? Liu Biao shook his head and said to Kuai Yue. Of course, it is also to relieve Kuai Yue, after all, you can't even explain the sky, how to let people calculate how high the sky is?

"Yes, yes, it's too complicated." Kuai Yue smiled bitterly.

"Haha, I know a little bit about that." At this moment, Wang Cang walked out laughing.

According to the three or five calendars, the yang is the sky, the yin is the earth, Pangu is in it, nine changes a day, the god is in the sky, and the holy is in the earth. The sky is one zhang high, the earth is one zhang thick, and Pangu is one zhang long, so eight thousand years old. The number of days is extremely high, the number of places is extremely deep, and Pangu is extremely long. The number starts from one, stands in three, becomes five, flourishes in seven, and is in nine, so the heavens go to the earth for 90,000 miles.

Therefore, the sky is high and the earth is thick, both of which are 90,000 miles. As for how far away the sun and moon are from us, the sun and moon are in the sky, and how high the sky is, how far away the sun and moon are from us! ”

Wang Cang quoted scriptures and talked eloquently, which attracted applause from the soldiers in the audience.

"Wang Zhongxuan's knowledge of the past and the present, can be described as a great talent." Liu Biao smiled. Kuai Yue also smiled and nodded.

Zhang Miao shook her head slightly: "False, Brother Zhong Xuan, what you said quotes the Third Five-Year Calendar, what is the Three-Five Calendar?" Myths and legends are just myths and legends, and the ancients did not know the answers to many phenomena, so they pinned their hopes on myths, so how could they prevail? ”

Wang Cang smiled: "Zhang Xiaolang, could it be Zhang Xiaolang Do you know how high the sky is?" ”

Zhang Miao said: "Of course. But before calculating the height of the sky, we must first know what is the sky? The so-called sky is nothing but a thick layer of gas covering the earth's surface, and we breathe in and out, wind and clouds, wind and rain, all of which evolve from gas. The closer to the ground, the denser the gas, and the farther away from the ground, the thinner the gas. According to the gas estimate, the height of the sky is about 32,000 li, far less than 90,000 li. ”

"The saying that the sky is thick with gas is also fresh." Liu Biao smiled at Kuai Yue. As for Zhang Miao's 32,000 miles high, it's just a joke.

"Wait, Zhang Xiaolang, these 32,000 miles are really calculated? How is it calculated? Wang Cang hurriedly asked.

Zhang Miao said: "We must first establish a mathematical model, and then estimate the density of each layer of gas, of course, we must also know the radius of the earth, and then use mathematical formulas to calculate it." ”

Wang Cang was dumbfounded, what mathematical model, what gas density, what earth, what radius, what are these things? I don't understand any of them!

Zhang Miao also knows that it is too difficult to let the ancients accept what is known to future generations. To prove how thick the atmosphere is, we have to convince people that there is air, and we have to start with the fact that the earth is a sphere, which is difficult alone. After thinking about it, I decided to end the topic as soon as possible. After all, the purpose of composing poems on stage is to attract the attention of Liu Biao and other high-level officials in Xiangyang, so that they can sell the honey candles at a high price, not purely to pretend to be forced! If you can't even eat enough, how can you have the strength to popularize scientific knowledge to the ancients?

Of course, this kind of calculation sounds simple, but it is extremely complicated, and it requires sufficient mathematical knowledge and a deep understanding of astronomy and geography, which cannot be explained in a moment. Brother Zhong Xuan, if you are interested, let's discuss it slowly in the future. I can start by talking about some very handy math that I invented on my own, but which requires pen and ink to demonstrate. Zhang Miao said.

Liu Biao waved his hand, and someone sent pen and ink and a large piece of white silk.

Zhang Miao looked at the white silk and was stunned, only then did she understand that although the paper appeared at this time, it may be the reason for the poor quality but it was not popularized. Well, you can engage in papermaking in the future, and maybe you can make a lot of money!

Kneeling down, spreading the white silk on the ground, lifting the brush, Zhang Miao began to write on the white silk, and many people on the stage involuntarily stood up and stretched their necks to watch. Only high-ranking officials such as Liu Biao Kuai Yue respected their identities, and although they were curious, they still sat in place.

"What are these?" Wang Cang asked, pointing to the crooked things drawn by Zhang Miao.

"This is a mathematical symbol I invented, 1 corresponds to the Chinese character 1, 2 corresponds to the 2 ,......," Zhang Miao said, writing the corresponding Chinese character under each Arabic numeral.

"If you use my mathematical symbols to count, it is far more convenient than counting with Chinese characters. For example, if the population of our Han Kingdom is 24,532,216 people, if you use this mathematical symbol, you can write it as 24532216.

The most convenient thing is that you can easily do addition, subtraction, multiplication and division operations with mathematical symbols. For example, if these two large numbers are added together, the general calculation needs to be put out and fiddled for a long time to calculate. And by adding up the mathematical symbols, it is easy to get the result. ”

Zhang Miao wrote while talking, talking about the addition and subtraction operations that later generations of primary school students all knew, but listening to the ears of Wang Cang and others, it was particularly magical. When they saw that Zhang Miao easily added two very large numbers to get the result, many people exclaimed.

Most of the scholars here have learned arithmetic, but they calculate with the help of arithmetic chips, and some complex calculations often have to be fiddled with for a long time, and it is shocking to see Zhang Miao calculate so easily.

"Everyone, if you have an arithmetic problem, you can say it on the spot, please ask Zhang Xiaolang to do the math." As if to embarrass Zhang Miao, Kuai Yue said with a smile.

"I have a question, can I ask Zhang Xiaolang to use your calculation method." Wang Cang said with a smile, "It is said that everyone pools money to buy a thing, everyone pays 8 yuan and the remaining 3 yuan, and everyone pays 7 yuan and 4 yuan, and asks how many people and prices are each?" ”

After listening to Wang Cang's question, many scholars present cheered up and began to concentrate on calculations, some closed their eyes and pondered, and some picked up branches and broke them as calculations and fiddled with them. There are also scholars who are not good at arithmetic, and they look at Zhang Miao, wanting to see how he answers.

Zhang Miao smiled, just a binary equation problem, another space-time elementary school student will be good, right?

Picking up the pen, he quickly listed two equations, and solved them in a few moments.

"Seven people, the price is fifty-three yuan, Wang Jun, am I right?" Zhang Miao said with a smile.

"Oh?" Wang Cang was stunned for a moment, did he calculate it so quickly? When I first looked at this arithmetic problem, it took me a long time to solve it.

"All right. Admire. Wang Cang sighed.

After a while, a scholar finally calculated the answer and said in surprise: "Sure enough, there are seven people, fifty-three dollars!" ”

"I have a question too!" Some scholars were not convinced, thinking that Zhang Miao just happened to have seen that question.

However, the problem he raised was still at the level of a primary school student in Zhang Miao's opinion, and it took less time to solve it.

"I have a question too!" And another soldier shouted.

One after another, the scholars came out one after another, asking arithmetic problems that seemed difficult to them, and even some of the bigwigs sitting on the stage stood up and asked their own questions. It can be seen that many people have studied arithmetic. However, their problem, in Zhang Miao's view, did not exceed the junior high school level at all, and the difficulty was too low and too low.

When the question about the area raised by another scholar was easily solved by Zhang Miao, no scholar stood up to ask questions. All the scholars looked at Zhang Miao's eyes full of admiration, and finally recognized his level!

As a result, many people finally believed that Zhang Miao didn't say anything big, and was really good at arithmetic!

"In the way of arithmetic, you can be called a generation of people, enough to start a sect, you can admire!" Wang Cang sighed.

When Zhang Miao was answering questions, there were servants who worked hard to record by his side, and then sent the transcription results to Liu Mian. Looking at the zigzag character formulas, and then listening to Zhang Miao's answers, Liu Biao and Kuai Yue were also amazed.

"Envoy, Zhang Miao is a smart young man and has a unique opinion on arithmetic, why don't you let him work in the state school and teach the scholars arithmetic?" Kuai Yue smiled and proposed to Liu Biao.

"This..."Liu Biao was a little hesitant, let a fourteen or fifteen-year-old boy be a professor in the state school, is this really good?

"The so-called master is the teacher, Zhang Miao's attainments in arithmetic are enough to be the teacher of everyone, and I think it is okay." Song Zhong also followed.

Song Zhong is the actual person in charge of the Five Classics and Jingzhou State Studies, and he also said yes, Liu Biao no longer hesitated, and said with a smile: "Zhang Miao, you have also heard the words of Brother Yidu and Song Engagement, would you like to serve as a professor of arithmetic in the State Studies?" ”