Usage of abacus

Tool: abacus.

1, put the abacus flat and push the upper and lower beads below.

2, choose any file in the abacus as the unit, starting from this file, from right to left, ten, one hundred, one thousand, and so on.

3. The lower bead represents one, and the upper bead represents five. Move the upper and lower beads according to the numbers. When the number is less than five, just move the beads below. When it reaches five, push down the lower bead and move the upper bead.

4. When the first vertical row is full of ten, it will enter the tenth place, and the same is true later.

The development and origin of abacus

Abacus is a traditional calculation tool in China, which evolved from the calculation widely used as early as the Spring and Autumn Period. It is not only an important invention in ancient China, but also a widely used computing tool before Arabic numerals appeared. Mathematicians in the Qing Dynasty, such as Mei, believed that abacus originated in the Eastern Han Dynasty and the Southern and Northern Dynasties.

Qian Dating, a scholar in Qing Dynasty, believed that abacus appeared in the middle of Yuan Dynasty and was widely used in the late Yuan Dynasty and early Ming Dynasty. With the discovery of new historical materials, some experts believe that abacus should have originated in the Tang Dynasty and was popular in the Song Dynasty. The basis is that there is a drugstore with an abacus on the counter in the famous painting "Riverside Scene at Qingming Festival" in the Song Dynasty.