In 1820, the first abacus was imported from France and brought to Russia.The set consists of rods and beads in a wooden frame. Each bead represents a number, and each bar represents a different place value.Each bead can move on the rod and a horizontal bar divides the wooden frame into two sections known as the upper deck and lower deck. Each particular abacus design supports a variety of computational methods, including the four basic operations and the square root and cube root. Some of these methods work great with unnatural numbers.An abacus is also known as a counting frame and is a counting device that has been in use since ancient times. Each bar represents a different place value, and each bead represents a number. The bead, or sometimes a pearl, can move on the stick which is how calculations are made. The modern abacus has proven to be a brain development tool that can improve the mental abilities of kids.An abacus can add, subtract, multiply, divide, and users can also use it to find the square root of an integer. Experienced or excellent abacus users can sometimes calculate faster than by using a simple calculator. A common Chinese abacus is divided into two types of baselines, the upper one for ‘five’ and the lower one for ‘one.’ There are one to two beads in the top row and four or five beads in the bottom row.How The Abacus Was InventedAbacus may have come from the Greek word abakos. In ancient times, during Greek and Roman times to be precise, counting boards were made of stone and metal, like the surviving Roman hand abacus.China is mainly considered the place of origin of the abacus. Written documentation of the Chinese abacus originally dates back to the second century BC.Tim Cranmer developed the Cranmer abacus, which visually impaired people use to perform calculations quickly and easily. A Cranmer abacus has a piece of rubber or soft cloth that is placed behind beads and holds them in place as the user manipulates the board. This design helps to make it easy for blind people to use.Most people confuse a counting board with an abacus. Initial abacuses were known as the calculating boards, a bit different from the modern abacuses. Most people get confused between counting board and abacus, but the two devices are very different. A counting board is a piece of a wooden frame having metal or stone with painted lines or carved grooves where pebbles, beads, or metal discs were used to move. Because counting boards are often made of materials that degrade over time, only a few made of sturdier materials have been found.The oldest open counting board is called the Salamis tablet. Discovered in 1899 on a Greek island. A white marble slab with a width of 29.5 in (75 cm), a length of 58.6 in (149 cm), and a thickness of 1.7 in (4.5 cm), on it there are five groups of marks. In the center of the tablet is a set of five parallel lines divided by vertical lines equally, surrounded by a semicircle at the intersection of a horizontal line and each vertical line. Below these lines, there is a large space with a horizontal crack. Below this crack is another group of eleven parallel lines, which in turn are divided into two parts by a line perpendicular to them, and by a semicircle at the top of the intersection.The first portable counting board was the Roman hand abacus. The abacus usually came in the form of a large board for calculation and was universally used in the Middle Ages in Europe as well as in the Arab and Asian regions. In the 16th century, the abacus came to Japan. The introduction of Hindu-Arabic notation with zeroes and place value eventually replaced the abacus, although it was still widely used in Europe until the 17th century.The abacus is still somewhat in use today in the Middle East, China, India, and Japan, but it is largely replaced by electronic calculators. An interesting fact is that the horizontal pull in the center of the modern abacus can immediately display zero.Modern computers manipulate numbers using the binary abacus.How The Abacus Was UsedIn the sixth or seventh century, before the Hindu-Arabic numbering system was invented in India and introduced to Europe later in the 12th century, people in tropical cultures counted on their fingers and even with their toes.Then, when larger numbers needed to be counted (more than fingers and toes can represent), people used small, easy-to-carry objects such as pebbles, shells, and twigs to do things like collecting money. However, merchants who traded goods needed a complete way to track the many items they had bought and sold. The abacus was one of many devices invented in ancient times for counting large numbers, but the abacus is believed for some to have been in use since around 2400 BC.The physical structure of the abacus has changed since the first abacus, but the concept has endured for nearly five millennia and is still in use today. Today the abacus is used as an incredibly useful tool to teach students to multiply and about place values. Asian countries such as Japan and China still predominantly use an abacus.An abacus is a basic tool that allows children to develop their basic mathematical skills. It helps them learn hand-brain coordination, improves concentration, and helps them overcome the fear of numbers some kids may have. It also helps improve memory, increase speed, and achieve calculation accuracy. The abacus is a fundamental and systematic way to learn counting and the development of strong memory in children. Due to the incredible benefits of the abacus, this ancient technique is still used to help students study effectively.Abacus’ Significance In Brain DevelopmentPocket calculators became famous in the 20th century. The invention was to make calculations easier but eventually, this way, the mental exercise for calculation was limited. People started preferring calculators more than counting one bead or two beads for addition or any arithmetic operation.Counting rods and beads in the abacus for calculation grasp the attention of any individual very easily. The abacus methodology leads to victories beyond mathematics.An abacus is a great tool for the senses. It activates the senses in a controlled way and teaches children to associate physical objects with abstract thinking. It develops their imagination and thinking skills.When children’s minds catch the abacus, they learn to solve problems quickly. This method applies to solving problems outside of mathematics.An abacus is easy to use and involves short-term memory. With the abacus learning method, the solution does not need to be remembered, it already exists.An abacus teaches children critical thinking skills, so they can think critically and logically about a problem.An abacus can help to increase self-esteem. As a child learns to solve problems, their self-confidence and self-esteem grow.Other Names Used For An Abacus Around The WorldThe versions of the abacus are named differently according to the different countries. The Japanese version of the abacus is called soroban. There is a Mexican version of an abacus called the nepohualtzintzin. Suan pan - meaning calculating pan - is the Chinese abacus.The prototype of the Chinese abacus appeared during the Han Dynasty, and the beads are oval in shape. The earlier Song Dynasty used the four beads abacus, similar to the modern abacus, including the bead shape common to the Japanese-style abacus.The Russian abacus is known as schoty. It was discovered in the 17th century and is still used today. Schoty’s design is based on a pair of human hands (each row has ten beads that correspond to ten fingers). Russian abacus was introduced by mathematician Jean-Victor Poncelet.The Russian abacus with each wire running horizontally is used vertically. The wires are usually bent in the middle to keep the beads in place on both sides. It is erased when all the beads move to the right. The beads move to the left during manipulation. It differs from other abacuses because the Russian abacus is not divided into decks.
In 1820, the first abacus was imported from France and brought to Russia.
