In a discussion of whether or not writing is permissible on the Sabbath, we read: This phrase is avak sofrim, literally “scribes’ dust,” and it occurs in a passage in the Mishnaic tractate of the Sabbath. ![]() ![]() Indeed, some dictionaries also give as a possible etymology for “abacus” the Phoenician cognate of abak, which means “sand.” (Ancient Hebrew and Phoenician were closely related Semitic languages.) This would seem a more plausible derivation, were it not for a curious and generally misunderstood Hebrew phrase that we find in the Talmud. Why would they have taken the abacus, or even just a word for it, from the Jews? Once a computation was finished, it could be erased by smoothing out the sand again in preparation for the next sum.īut even if the rod-and-bead abacus, which was invented only in the Middle Ages, was the sand abacus, why connect the latter with Hebrew avak? Although the ancient Greeks absorbed much science and technology from the Middle East, this came to them mostly through the Egyptians and the Phoenicians. Instead of wooden or metal rods representing columns for ones, tens, hundreds, thousands and so on, vertical lines were drawn in the sand instead of counters or beads sliding on the rods, holes were punched on these lines by a finger. In its more refined form (for one always could improvise in any loose or sandy soil, which must be how the oldest abacuses originated), it consisted of a shallow box filled with sand. To be more precise, the ancient abacus, which probably was invented in Babylonia, worked on the same principle as does an abacus today, but it looked quite different. The Greek word abax has as one of its senses ‘a board sprinkled with sand or dust for drawing geometric diagrams.’ This board is a relative of the abacus familiar to us.” That’s what we will be using in our lessons and worksheets.“Originally, the abacus was, in fact, dusty…. Due to its complexity, it was replaced by Soroban, a Japanese abacus, which was developed further by a famous mathematician Seki Kowa who removed one bead each from upper and lower decks to make it 1 bead in the upper section and 4 beads in the lower section.Ībacus most educational institutes use and teach today is the Soroban abacus. The Suanpan, one of the modern age Abacus was a Chinese adaptation and had 2 beads in the upper section and 5 beads in the lower section. All the calculations were based on the movements of the beads.Ībacus was probably one of the greatest invention of the ancient days that helped the merchants and traders keep track of inventories and accounting. The calculating process required the use of both hands of the person using it. The beads in the upper section had different values than of those in the lower section. Every bead was assigned a value starting from a units place moving towards the left. The abacus in ancient days was used purely as a calculating device. Different times brought different changes in the forms of the abacus as its usage was adapted by races from China, India, Korea, Persia, Rome, Japan and Russia. Like most things, the abacus has also transitions as it was adapted in different civilizations across the world. The abacus was invented somewhere in between 300-500 BC. The abacus is among one of first counting devices which are used to count large numbers. Additional links below for those who want more…Ībacus is a Latin word that has its origins in the Greek words abax or abakon (meaning “table” or “tablet”). You can find a number of wonderful blogs with a lot of background on Abacus, but here is a quick synopsis of the history of Abacus. What does that have to do with the history of Abacus, you ask? Sorry about my rant, but it just leads back to the the innovation of mankind, and how “necessity breads ingenuity”. ![]() ![]() But as adults, we all recognize the importance of calculating mentally and wish that our children were good at it. The sheer mental ability to calculate in our head diminishes.Īs children, a large majority of us probably questioned why we had to calculate mentally. The simple fact is that as we have more access to smart phones, calculators, and other calculation devices, our dependence on them increases. How about our children? Are most of us concerned that they are not as good at numbers as maybe even we were at their age. Do you ever wonder, why for most of us, our parents are so much better with numbers than we are?
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