The recent discovery of ancient counting rods in China has led experts to raise the possibility that the Chinese
discovered the concept of negative and positive numbers 800 years before India.

Uses of the rods found in Xi’an, Shaanxi Province

Experts who have spent years studying the purpose of the 61 rods found in Xi’an, Shaanxi province,
have suggested that they were likely used to distinguish between positive and negative numbers,
raising the possibility that they were one of the earliest counting tools, and a PhD student at the
School of Cultural Heritage at Northwestern University said that the rods are an important discovery in the history of mathematics, as they show the high level of mathematics in ancient China.

A rebuttal from a professor at the School of History and Civilisation, Shaanxi Normal University

However, research published by a professor at the School of History and Civilization at Shaanxi Normal
University denies this, saying that the tomb’s owner
was most likely the grandmother of Emperor Qin Shi Huangdi, and that the different colors of
the rod represented bad and good deeds and were most likely used to punish or reward subordinates.