老外在中国：令人“抓狂”的数学计算_其他

老外在中国：令人“抓狂”的数学计算

亚洲人比其他地区的人更“精于算数”，这种印象在西方世界深入人心，但这是事实吗？没错，事实确实如此。可以这么说，日常生活中中国人比美国人做更多算数。在中国的日常就像参加一场的数学测试。

By Nelly Min

Asians are known the world over as being “good at math.” This is a stereotype perpetuated by popular culture in the West. But is there some truth to it? Yes, as it turns out. I can say that in daily life, Chinese people do more math than their American counterparts. In fact, one can even say daily life in China is an ongoing math test. Right off the top of my head, I can think of three examples, starting with shopping in China’s capital.

亚洲人比其他地区的人更“精于算数”，这种印象在西方世界深入人心，但这是事实吗？没错，事实确实如此。可以这么说，日常生活中中国人比美国人做更多算数。在中国的生活就像参加一场数学测试，我当下就可以想到三个例子，先拿在北京购物来说吧。

When you walk into any department store in Beijing, chances are there is a sale going on. You will see signs with a single digit number and the Chinese character zhe prominently displayed next to products that are on sale. Experienced shoppers can jump to the conclusion that 7 zhe must mean 70% discount. Alas, the Chinese system encourages shoppers to go one extra step in calculating their discount: i.e., 7 zhe means you pay 70 percent, resulting in a 30 percent discount. Some adults in the West couldn’t do this simple math in their heads. Because, why would you need to? We left all that behind in elementary school.