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ABC Abacus
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25.01.2022 How to use an abacus? Before learning to use the abacus realize that there are many different types of abacus. For example, the classical abacus or Chinese abacus has five beads on the bottom and two beads at the top. The modern abacus, Japanese abacus, or soroban has four beads at the bottom and one bead at the top. We are using the modern abacus for examples on this page. Abacus... The upper beads upper beads are called the "Heavenly beads" and are worth five in the first column. The lower beads are called "Earthly beads" and are each worth one in the first column. When moving a bead towards the middle bar (called the reckoning bar), it is considered counted and when no bead is touching the reckoning bar that column is equal to zero. The separation dots and off-colored beads vary depending on the abacus, but are always used to separate numbers into sets of three. These markers can also mark your first position if you do not want to start counting from the far right. The beads values start in the far right 1s column, which are beads valued between 1 and 9. Going from right-to-left the beads values increase to the 10s place, 100s place, 1,000th place, etc. To use the abacus lay it on a flat surface and set it to zero by making sure no beads are touching the reckoning bar. If you have a reset button, press it to reset the beads. To count on the abacus start on the far right side of the abacus, and slide one earthly bead up to the reckoning bar using your thumb. One bead touching the reckoning bar makes the abacus equal 1. Slide three more beads up makes the abacus value four (3 + 1 = 4). Because the modern abacus only has four Earthly beads, if you want to count to five, you must move the heavenly bead down to the reckoning bar using your index finger. At the same time, move all Earthly beads down. If you wanted the total to be seven, move two earthly beads up to the reckoning bar (5 + 2 = 7). Abacus adding to 283 To count to higher numbers move further left depending on how high you want to count. For example, in the picture to the right, the abacus is equal to "283" with nine beads moved towards the reckoning bar. The third column (100s column) has two beads counted for 200. The second column (10s column) has a Heavenly bead counted for 50, and three Earthly beads counted for 30 giving it a total of 80. Finally, the first column (1s column) has three beads counted. Adding all columns together (200 + 80 + 3) gives you the total of 283. How do I add using the abacus? To add on an abacus each number is added to the abacus going left-to-right. For example, if we wanted to add 200 + 123 move two Earthly beads in the 100s column towards the reckoning bar for 200. Next, add one Earthly bead in the 100s column for 100, 2 Earthly beads in the 10s column for 20, and then finally three beads in the 1s column for three. Once completed you should be able to count 323 on the abacus.
22.01.2022 Techniques to use Abacus.
06.01.2022 Is the abacus still used today? Yes, even today in certain parts of the world the abacus is still used as a primary counting device or as a backup to more modern counting devices.
04.01.2022 Why was the abacus used? Before computers, calculators, or even arithmetic using paper and pencil, the abacus was the most advanced device for crunching numbers. Before the abacus, the only methods people had to use for their mathematical calculations were their fingers and toes, or stones in the dirt.
