Category: Safe Haven
Who remembers how to use this anciant and honorable device? It's been ages since I last used one; not sure I could do long division or find a square root if my life depended on it:).
-Dave
Hey, I still remember how to add and subtract one one of those things, used to use it instead of a calculator, yes, dig it my brothers. Unfortunately I don't remeber how to multiply or devide though I'd probably be able to get it if I sat down with one for a bit. I have a few lying around somewhere I think.
James
I still have my abacus that my homebound teacher got for me when I had school, and I still have the braille instruction book that came with it, so if I ever need to, I can read up on how to use it again. Mostly because thereweren't any ways for teachers to teach me some things, my math skills were very weak, so I wasn't able to do square roots and logarithms. Even my last teacher, good as she was, didn't know a way to teach me square roots. I could still do addition, subtraction, multiplication and division with it, but I'd definitely have to study the book to do it well.
wonderwoman
I never learned to use an abacus! I want to though, even though I don't liek Math it looks (feels) so very itneresting ahahah.
well in my opinion, it's still something youhave to learn, because you have to learn all the addition secrets, and subtraction secrets, so it's still not simplied, and if you put a wrong number in a column, you could still come up with the wrong answer.
wonderwoman
Yeah you ahve a point WW. Still I'd love to learn to use the actual device, the abacus. Tha'td just be soo ocool! Ahahah.
it's an easier way to do math once you get the hang of it. When I was little and had to stay in that kindergarten class in the orthopaedic hospital I was in, the abacusses were larger and heavier than they are now. The one i have now is small enough to fit in a pocket, and the numbers go higher as well, all the way up to a billian, and there are buttons at the top that represent 5, 50, 500,etc. Like in the ones collumn, there are 4 beads on the bottom row, and there is a bead at the top which has a value of 5, like a nickle has a value of 5 cents. Oh, correction, the older heavier abacusses had ten rows, which went up to a billion, and the newer ones have 13 rows, and go up to a trillion, unless they've changed them since I got mine.
wonderwoman
That's so awesome!!! i've no idea how they work and have only laid hands on one once ...
hmmm, i have always wondered how one works. i don't think i have seen one either. smile- angel
They've sort of got a frame and little bead type things on little tracks set in the frame, at least that's what the one i've seen looks like.
Hi,
Last time I used a Kramer abacus (the one they use at "blind schools"), it had 13 columns (making it go up to To add to the fun, there's a coupler which let one put two abaci end-to-end for those astronomical numbers. LOL.
-Dave
the trillions).
Man! I didn't realize they were thsi complex! SOunds like there's many models of them ... I should really look into this.
Never quight figured out how to use one of those. I liked playing with the beads lol. I have this really old wooden one my mom got in Chinatown.
The beads are fun to play with. I used to drive mine across the floor liek the beads were wheels.
Bringing this subject back after two years because it's two in the morning, and i've nothing else better to do. lol I vaguely remember how to do addition and subtraction on the abacus, but I never paied attention to how multiplication and division are done. i prefer the calculator.
i remember in the fifth grade, my teacher showed me an abacus, but it had huge, i mean really huge beeds. the one that i was introduced to in high school was an A.P.H abacus. i used to fly on those things when i knew how to use them properly. now if i ever want to get back into using one, i would have to play around with it again. and to whomever said that they used to roll their abacus across the floor as if the beeds were wheels, i did the same thing when i was bored. either that or roll it across the table lol.
interesting topic
I used an abacus in school. Its still a good tool, especially for beginning math students. It helps you learn the concepts of addition, subtraction, etc. Sighted ppl still learn to do math problems on paper and this is the blind person's equivalent.
i wonder y sighted people do not learn this tool?
Well, calculators have taken over, haven't they?
Anyway, I was using an abacus in Infant and Junior School before we were taught how to use a calculator of course. We had these big mettal ones where you slid all the beads down the side facing away from you, then you'd count how many single numbers, tens, hundreds, thousands and millions you needed with 20 beads/counters attached to each hoop of wire, then slide them over to the side facing you to work out your sums. Personally, I guess the calculator's a lot more accurate than the abacus. That's why it's so, so much more popular.
Jen.
yep that is the kind that i was shown in fifth grade as well. only it was wooden.
Or, we used these 3-collumn plastic abacuses with smaller cylindrical beads, though the principal was the same as the big metal and wood ones.
Jen.
Actually up until recently, and who knows maybe even stilll, in Japan sighted people *do* use them. Could be wrong on that one. Me I have a cranmer abacus, also had the book to go with it, but it got ... well lost, shall we say. used to use it as a scoreboard for computer games and to do basic arithmatic calculations on. haven't used it for years now.
yeah i think i can still add and multiply on one.
Wow!! I could probably still do basic math on one, but not the complicated stuff. I know I have one here, so now I need to find it just to see how much I remember.
The book for learning the cranmer abacus is available on bookshare, and I have an abacus in a drawer somewhere. That book has been on my "to be read" list for over a year.
I was taught to use an abacus from a very early age, and used it right up till my sighted peers were allowed to start using calculators. I think it's still a useful tool. Not teaching a blind child to do math on an abacus would be like not teaching a sighted child to do math with a pencil and paper. While we'll usually have calculators around, I think it's helpful to know how to do it without one. I could still do most things on an abacus, including fractions. They were actually my favorite.