The abacus is the most ancient calculating device known in the world. It has been widely used for thousands of years in Asia especially in China. The Chinese abacus is also called “suanpan” (simplified Chinese: 算盘; traditional Chinese: 算盤; pinyin: suànpán). An abacus is composed of a wooden frame, beam, rods and beads. The rectangular frame of the abacus has a series of vertical rods. Each rod represents a different place value such as ones, tens, hundreds, thousands, millions and so on.
Besides, a horizontal beam separates the frame into two sections, known as the upper deck and the lower deck.
The classic Chinese abacus has two beads on the upper deck and five on the lower deck, it is also called the 2/5 abacus. A few decades later, the 1/5 abacus which had one bead on the upper deck and five beads on the lower deck appeared. Each bead in the upper deck has a value of 5 while each bead in the lower deck has a value of 1. The beads are moved up and down during calculation.
According to the document, the first abacus was introduced to Japan from China in the 16th century. After studying the tool for 400 years, Japan improved and revolutionized the Soroban (算盤, そろばん, counting tray) to what we use today. The Japanese eliminated one bead from the upper deck and one bead from the lower deck respectively.
A Soroban is made up of a wooden frame divided into two parts separated by a beam, with upper deck of one row of beads and a lower deck of four rows of beads. The beads on a Soroban are usually shaped as a double cone to facilitate ease of movement. In addition, the large-sized Chinese abacus was improved into a handier smaller-sized one.
The standard abacus can be used to perform addition, subtraction, division and multiplication and even used to extract a square or cube root. The calculation can be easily performed by moving beads along the rods of the abacus. The abacus is also useful because of its speed, accuracy, portability and flexibility.
In conclusion, the invention of abacus contributed greatly to the development of culture, economy and scientific technology. This ancient calculating device is known as the fifth great invention in Chinese history and was officially listed as an intangible cultural heritage at the 8th Annual UNESCO World Heritage Congress. The abacus is still being used today despite the convenience of electronic calculators.
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