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Finger Math - The (Brief) History of Chisanbop

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Manage episode 500229595 series 3405980
Content provided by Dirt Nap City. All podcast content including episodes, graphics, and podcast descriptions are uploaded and provided directly by Dirt Nap City or their podcast platform partner. If you believe someone is using your copyrighted work without your permission, you can follow the process outlined here https://podcastplayer.com/legal.

Remember the kid in your class who looked like they were playing Mozart on the piano while doing long division? They weren’t. They were a Chisanbop master! This "finger-math" system, invented by Korean mathematician Hang Young Pai, promised to turn your hands into a human abacus. It was the sensation of the 70s, making its way onto national television programs like the 'Phil Donahue Show' and 'The Tonight Show,' where bewildered hosts watched in awe as kids did complex calculations with a series of frantic finger flicks.

Schools across the country, desperate for a new way to engage students with math, jumped on the Chisanbop bandwagon. Classrooms turned into a flurry of finger wiggling and thumb tapping, as teachers believed they were raising a generation of math geniuses. But just as Chisanbop was reaching peak popularity, a tiny, unassuming device entered the picture: the pocket calculator. Suddenly, a $20 gadget could do in a fraction of a second what it took a Chisanbop whiz an entire minute to do, and without the risk of carpal tunnel syndrome. In this episode, we’ll explore the short-lived reign of Chisanbop and ponder the philosophical question: why did we ever think our fingers were better than a Texas Instruments TI-30Xa? Tune in and find out!"

Drop us a quick text and we’ll reply in the next episode!

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Dirt Nap City is the podcast about the most interesting dead people in history.
Subscribe and listen to learn about people you've heard of, but don't know much about.
Someday we'll all live in Dirt Nap City, so you should probably go ahead and meet the neighbors!

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120 episodes

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Manage episode 500229595 series 3405980
Content provided by Dirt Nap City. All podcast content including episodes, graphics, and podcast descriptions are uploaded and provided directly by Dirt Nap City or their podcast platform partner. If you believe someone is using your copyrighted work without your permission, you can follow the process outlined here https://podcastplayer.com/legal.

Remember the kid in your class who looked like they were playing Mozart on the piano while doing long division? They weren’t. They were a Chisanbop master! This "finger-math" system, invented by Korean mathematician Hang Young Pai, promised to turn your hands into a human abacus. It was the sensation of the 70s, making its way onto national television programs like the 'Phil Donahue Show' and 'The Tonight Show,' where bewildered hosts watched in awe as kids did complex calculations with a series of frantic finger flicks.

Schools across the country, desperate for a new way to engage students with math, jumped on the Chisanbop bandwagon. Classrooms turned into a flurry of finger wiggling and thumb tapping, as teachers believed they were raising a generation of math geniuses. But just as Chisanbop was reaching peak popularity, a tiny, unassuming device entered the picture: the pocket calculator. Suddenly, a $20 gadget could do in a fraction of a second what it took a Chisanbop whiz an entire minute to do, and without the risk of carpal tunnel syndrome. In this episode, we’ll explore the short-lived reign of Chisanbop and ponder the philosophical question: why did we ever think our fingers were better than a Texas Instruments TI-30Xa? Tune in and find out!"

Drop us a quick text and we’ll reply in the next episode!

Support the show

Dirt Nap City is the podcast about the most interesting dead people in history.
Subscribe and listen to learn about people you've heard of, but don't know much about.
Someday we'll all live in Dirt Nap City, so you should probably go ahead and meet the neighbors!

  continue reading

120 episodes

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