Do you ever wonder, why for most of us, our parents are so much better with numbers than we are?
How about our children? Are most of us concerned that they are not as good at numbers as maybe even we were at their age.
That’s a scary thought!
I mention it here, not to alarm anyone. The simple fact is that as we have more access to smart phones, calculators, and other calculation devices, our dependence on them increases. The sheer mental ability to calculate in our head diminishes.
As children, a large majority of us probably questioned why we had to calculate mentally. But as adults, we all recognize the importance of calculating mentally and wish that our children were good at it.
What does that have to do with the history of Abacus, you ask? Sorry about my rant, but it just leads back to the the innovation of mankind, and how “necessity breads ingenuity”.
You can find a number of wonderful blogs with a lot of background on Abacus, but here is a quick synopsis of the history of Abacus. Additional links below for those who want more…
Abacus is a Latin word that has its origins in the Greek words abax or abakon (meaning “table” or “tablet”). The abacus is among one of first counting devices which are used to count large numbers.
The abacus was invented somewhere in between 300-500 BC. Like most things, the abacus has also transitions as it was adapted in different civilizations across the world. Different times brought different changes in the forms of the abacus as its usage was adapted by races from China, India, Korea, Persia, Rome, Japan and Russia.
The abacus in ancient days was used purely as a calculating device. Every bead was assigned a value starting from a units place moving towards the left. The beads in the upper section had different values than of those in the lower section. The calculating process required the use of both hands of the person using it. All the calculations were based on the movements of the beads.
Abacus was probably one of the greatest invention of the ancient days that helped the merchants and traders keep track of inventories and accounting.
The Suanpan, one of the modern age Abacus was a Chinese adaptation and had 2 beads in the upper section and 5 beads in the lower section. Due to its complexity, it was replaced by Soroban, a Japanese abacus, which was developed further by a famous mathematician Seki Kowa who removed one bead each from upper and lower decks to make it 1 bead in the upper section and 4 beads in the lower section.
Abacus most educational institutes use and teach today is the Soroban abacus. That’s what we will be using in our lessons and worksheets.
For more detailed information, checkout this link https://www.ee.ryerson.ca/~elf/abacus/history.html