Return to Culture Index | Return
to Qi Home Page
From the Greek word "ABAX", meaning "calculating board" or "calculating table". Invented by the Chinese, the first record of the abacus was from a sketch of one in a book from the Yuan Dynasty (14th Century). It's Mandarin name is "Suan Pan" which means "caculating plate". It's inventor is unknown, but the abacus is often referred to as the "first computer" because it was used as a mathematic model for early electronic computers.
The abacus can be used to ADD, SUBTRACT, MULTIPLY, and DIVIDE as well as work with sophisticated mathematical problems such as fractions and square root.
In Asian countries it is not unusual to see shopkeepers and street vendors using an abacus to calculate invoices, especially where electricity is not convenient. Some elderly residents actually prefer the abacus over newer electronic devices. The calculations made on an abacus are immediate, with the device retaining the results in "visual storage" much like a computer display. All one has to do is read off the answer. Some say that since it has a better "keyboard" than the western calculators, an abacus is actually faster when working with large amounts of numbers.
While westerns are used to seeing "miniature" abacus models
in gift shops, usually made of brass, the preferred models are larger (around
10" wide), with frame and beads made of good quality, well-seasoned
wood.
The Abacus has a horizontal center bar with rows of beads above and below (2 beads above and 5 beads below the bar). Numbers are calculated from this dividing bar. The result (answer) is then read back using the same center bar, from left to right. The beads are moved (added or subtracted) by moving them to or from this center bar, and they are used to "store" the numerical values.
Each vertical row of beads represents a multiple of 10 (10,000, 1,000, 100, 10, and 1). The beads BELOW the center bar represent one unit of that row (the beads in the rightmost column represent 1 unit, the beads in the row next to the rightmost column represent 10 units each, etc.) The beads in each row ABOVE the center dividing bar represent five units of that row.
The beads must be pushed against the center bar to be counted (the bottom
beads must be pushed upwards to add value, the top beads must be pushed
downwards to add value). To subtract values, the beads are pushed AWAY from
the center divider bar.
Example Below: Abacus set to Zero
(no beads are pushed towards the center divider bar)
Example Below: Abacus set to 15
(one 10 unit bead and one 1 unit bead was added)
Example Below: Abacus set to 517
(one 500 unit bead, one 10 unit bead, one 5 unit bead, and two 1 unit beads)