Welcome to The Abacus a site dedicated to the Art of Counting with Beads. This site is full of information that I didn’t know—for instance, there is a specific way to use the abacus and only certain fingers should be used to count.
In the Introduction, which I found to be worth the read, you learn about the Basics of using an Abacus and how they are constructed. There is a java applet where you can see how an Abacus works, and you can learn how the Abacus is still used today.
The History section is exactly what it says—it’s the history of the Abacus from it’s earliest recorded origins to present day. There is a great timeline too!
The Interactive Abacus Tour requires you to have Java, and teaches you how to add and subtract on and Abacus. I thought this was really neat. It comes with a built in tutor, and you can chose the style of Abacus you want to learn on.
The Calculations Section gives you the option of Addition, Subtraction, Multiplication/Division, Square Roots, and Cube Roots.
The Lee Abacus section lets you browse the manual for the Abacus in two ways. Check it out.
The Abacus as Art — this section is dedicated to the art of Michael Mode who builds exotic abaci (abacus plural) some of these are really cool. My favorite is the Abracadabracus model.
Now that’s just enough for you to get your feet wet in this site—there is a lot more for you to discover like the “Abacus: the Mystery of the Bead”, and all the interesting articles on the Abacus.
Count on having a good time.
http://www.ee.ryerson.ca:8080/~elf/abacus/
7-20-2005