Learning abacus calculation could be an interesting learning activity especially for young kids. The learning process involving visual activities that put away the boredom feeling while learning mental-arithmetic calculation. The simplicity of the device makes children feel it like their toy while using it. As an introduction, you need to be familiar with an abacus device before you start learning the counting steps. The beads are divided by two portions by a horizontal bar called a beam.
The Chinese abacus known as suan pan has two beads above but the Japanese abacus known as soroban has only one bead above the beam.
The upper deck is called “Heaven” and each bead represents five units. The lower deck is called “Earth” and each bead has a value of one. Every third rod is marked with a dot along the length of the beam.
These specially marked rods are called unit rods because anyone of them can be designated to carry the unit number. The dots serve as markers so the users can quickly identify the numbers.
Each rod is representing a numerical sequence of digit value. For example, the first rod represents 1 unit, the second rod is 10, the third rod represents 100 and continuously count this way until the last rod. The reading and computing style always start from left to right so that users can solve mathematical problems with great agility and speed.
Using the abacus can be simply done by moving the number of beads down towards the divider or back to the starting point for subtraction. For example, when performing the addition 5+2, the user will move 1 bead from the upper deck down and 2 beads from the lower deck up to complete the operation.
Besides, users only use their thumb and index fingers to manipulate beads on the abacus. The thumb moves the earth beads up toward the beam. The index finger moves all earth beads down away from the beam and all heaven beads up & down.
Beyond the practical use of abacus as a method of performing calculations, UNESCO pointed to its vital role in giving an impetus to mathematical studies, promoting algorithmic practices, and fostering intelligence.
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