A professor of mathematics from America was visiting a college
in North China. To a native professor there he said, “There
is a new method in mathematics being taught in America. It is
called the ‘short cut,’ and is a method of casting out the
nines.” Imagine his surprize when the Chinese scholar replied,
“The Chinese have been practising that method farther back than
recorded history goes.” And he called a pupil up to prove it.
Sure enough, it was the “short cut,” the casting out of the
nines.