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A Brief Introduction To The Abacus

The abacus is a mechanical counting tool that uses movable beads on rods to perform calculations. It has an upper and lower deck, with each bead in the upper deck representing a value of 5 and each bead in the lower deck representing a value of 1. Numbers are represented by positioning the appropriate beads toward the beam separating the decks. The abacus can be used to perform addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division, as well as extracting roots. Proper finger technique is important for efficiency when using an abacus. While the abacus is still used in some Asian countries and schools, it also provides children an alternative to memorizing multiplication tables.

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232 views

A Brief Introduction To The Abacus

The abacus is a mechanical counting tool that uses movable beads on rods to perform calculations. It has an upper and lower deck, with each bead in the upper deck representing a value of 5 and each bead in the lower deck representing a value of 1. Numbers are represented by positioning the appropriate beads toward the beam separating the decks. The abacus can be used to perform addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division, as well as extracting roots. Proper finger technique is important for efficiency when using an abacus. While the abacus is still used in some Asian countries and schools, it also provides children an alternative to memorizing multiplication tables.

Uploaded by

NadaMagdy
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Download as DOC, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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A Brief Introduction to the Abacus

The abacus is a mechanical aid used for counting; it is not a calculator in the sense we
use the word today.

Anatomy & Construction


The standard abacus can be used to perform addition, subtraction, division
and multiplication; the abacus can also be used to extract square-roots and
cubic roots.
The abacus is typically constructed of various types of hardwoods and comes
in varying sizes. The frame of the abacus has a series of vertical rods on which
a
number
of
wooden beads are
allowed
to
slide
freely.
A
horizontal beam separates the frame into two sections, known as the upper
deck and the lower deck.

Abacus Parts: The various parts of the abacus are identified here: the frame, the beam, the beads and rods and
the upper and lower decks.

Basics
The abacus is prepared for use by placing it flat on a table or one's lap and
pushing all the beads on both the upper and lower decks away from the beam.
The beads are manipulated with either the index finger or the thumb of one
hand.
Bead Values

Each bead in the upper deck has a value of 5; each bead in the lower deck has
a value of 1. Beads are considered counted, when moved towards the beam
that separates the two decks.
Counting

After 5 beads are counted in the lower deck, the result is "carried" to the upper
deck; after both beads in the upper deck are counted, the result (10) is then
carried to the left-most adjacent column.

The right-most column is the ones column; the next adjacent to the left is the
tens column; the next adjacent to the left is the hundreds column, and so on.
Floating point calculations are performed by designating a space between 2
columns as the decimal-point and all the rows to the right of that space
represent fractional portions while all the rows to the left represent whole
number digits.

Abacus Applet: Numeric representation of the number: 87,654,321. If your browser is Java-capable then the
applet, above, will identify the parts of the abacus in your browser's status-area as you move your mouse-pointer
over it; the beads will move when you click on them and the value of each column will be displayed on the top
frame.

Referring to the Figure/Applet above, the third column (from the left),
representing the number 8, is counted with 1 bead from the top-deck (value 5)
and 3 beads from the bottom-deck (each with a value of 1, totaling 3); the sum
of the column (5+3) is 8.
Similarly, the fourth column representing the number 7, is counted with 1
bead from the top-deck (value 5) and 2 beads from the bottom-deck
(each with a value of 1, totaling 2); the sum of the column (5+2) is 7.

Technique
Proper finger technique is paramount in achieving proficiency on the abacus.
With a Chinese abacus, the thumb and the index finger together with the
middle finger are used to manipulate the beads. Beads in lower deck are
moved up with the thumb and down with the index finger. In certain
calculations, the middle finger is used to move beads in the upper deck.

Finger Technique: A Japanese textbook published in 1954 shows the proper technique for moving the beads. It
shows the thumb being used to count beads in the lower deck and the index finger being used in all other cases.

With the Japanese version, only the index finger and thumb are used. The
beads are moved up with the thumb and down with the index finger. However,
certain complex operations require that the index finger move beads up; e.g.

adding 3 to 8 (the adding of the three is called Jian Chi Jia Shi which literally
means, "subtract 7 add 10").
This Java version of the abacus is a limited simulation of the real device
because the fingering technique is completely obfuscated by the mouse. With a
real abacus, constant practice is indispensable in achieving virtuosity and
calculating speed.

The Abacus Today


The abacus is still in use today by shopkeepers in Asia and "Chinatowns" in
North America. The use of the abacus is still taught in Asian schools, and some
few schools in the West. Blind children are taught to use the abacus where
their sighted counterparts would be taught to use paper and pencil to perform
calculations.
One particular use for the abacus is teaching children simple mathematics and
especially multiplication; the abacus is an excellent substitute for rote
memorization of multiplication tables, a particularily detestable task for young
children. The abacus is also an excellent tool for teaching other base
numbering systems since it easily adapts itself to any base.
The enduring interest in this ancient device is evident by ever increasing
number of visitors to these pages from all around the world.

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