

Abacus Applet: Numeric representation of the number: 87,654,321. Floating point calculations are performed by designating a space between 2 columns as the decimal-point and all the rows to the right of that space represent fractional portions while all the rows to the left represent whole number digits. The right-most column is the ones column the next adjacent to the left is the tens column the next adjacent to the left is the hundreds column, and so on. CountingĪfter 5 beads are counted in the lower deck, the result is "carried" to the upper deck after both beads in the upper deck are counted, the result (10) is then carried to the left-most adjacent column.

(16) She gazed up at the sky while clutching a large abacus in her arms as if it were a musical instrument.PREPARING THE ABACUS: The abacus is prepared for use ("zeroed") by placing it flat on a table and pushing all the beads on both the upper and lower decks away from the beam by sliding the thumb along the beam.īEAD VALUES: Each bead in the upper deck has a value of 5 each bead in the lower deck has a value of 1.īeads are considered counted, when moved towards the Beam- the piece of the abacus frame that separates the two decks. (15) The waterleaf is a broad, unribbed, tapering leaf curving up towards the angle of the abacus and turned in at the top. (14) But for millions of people in the countryside, the abacus is still more common than a laptop. in China, where it was called ├ö├ç├┐suan-pan├ö├ç├û. (13) The abacus, as we know it today, first made its appearance in 1200 A.D. (12) They also had traditional toys such as an abacus, building bricks and fridge magnet numbers. (11) The new system may be simpler but you still need an abacus to work it out.

(10) The uppermost molding, or abacus, of this capital is 2.8 meters wide. (9) At the same time, there has been a revival of interest in the ancient methods of calculation, especially the use of simple and unsophisticated gadgets such as the abacus. (8) If we could build a fully functioning quantum computer, it would represent an advance on the traditional electronic computer as big as the electronic computer represents over the abacus. (7) The abacus is between the architrave and the aechinus in the capital. (6) The capital displays on three of its faces a single naked male dancer, whose head is positioned on the central axis, midway between volutes, as if to form a console supporting the abacus. (5) Our eventual aim is to display the complete history of computing, from the abacus to the latest machines. (4) Use a calculator, put pencil to paper, try an abacus. (3) Numbers are better manipulated as calculus stones or abacus beads than in human memory. (2) A young man sat against the wall doing calculation with an abacus and recording data onto paper. (1) This time a simpleton working an abacus could probably project the winner.
