Facts about Abacus
Just as with popular board games such as chess, shogi, and go, local, regional, and national competitions in abacus use are held for students.
The first abacus was most likely based on a flat stone covered with sand or dust.
The abacus is a simple, inexpensive, yet powerful tool for calculation.
The preferred plural of abacus is a subject of disagreement, but both abacuses and abaci are in use.
Around the fifth century, Indian clerks were already finding new ways of recording the contents of the Abacus.
The Russian abacus, the schoty (?????), usually has a single slanted deck, with ten beads on each wire (except one wire which has four beads, for quarter-ruble fractions).
The similarity of the Roman abacus to the Chinese one suggests that one could have inspired the other, as there is some evidence of a trade relationship between the Roman Empire and China.
The Russian abacus is often used vertically, with wires from left to right in the manner of a book.
The origin of the counter abacus with strings is obscure, but India, Mesopotamia or Egypt are seen as probable points of origin.
The abacus teaches math skills that can never be replaced with talking calculators and is an important learning tool for blind students.
The use of the word abacus dates from before 1387, when a Middle English work borrowed the word from Latin to describe a sandboard abacus.
The abacus gives blind and visually impaired students a tool to compute math problems that equals the speed and mathematical knowledge required by their sighted peers using pencil and paper.
The abacus migrated from China to Korea around the year 1400 and later Japan, around the year 1600.
An abacus (plurals abacuses or abaci), also called a counting frame, is a calculating tool for performing arithmetical processes, often constructed as a wooden frame with beads sliding on wires.
First century sources, such as the Abhidharmakosa describe the knowledge and use of abacus in India.
Some sources mention the use of an abacus called a nepohualtzintzin in ancient Aztec culture.
The type of abacus shown here is often used to represent numbers without the use of place value.
Hindu texts used the term shunya (means Zero) to indicate the empty column on the abacus.
An adapted abacus, called a Cranmer abacus is still commonly used by individuals who are blind.
China played an essential part in the development and evolution of the abacus.
The Russian abacus, the schoty (?????), usually has a single slanted deck, with ten beads on each wire (except one wire which has four beads, for quarter-ruble fractions).