How Do You Add And Subtract Using An Abacus?
The Chinese people have used abaci for thousands of years, and many still use them because they’re faster than handheld calculators. (Competitions between the two prove this.) An abacus can be used to add, subtract, multiply, divide, calculate square roots and deal with negative numbers. However, this article will only deal with addition and subtraction. Lay the abacus on a flat surface in front of you with the rods vertical and the large section of beads closest to you. Move all the beads away from the center divider, called the bar. The top section of beads will be at the top of the rods and the bottom section will be at the bottom of the rods. Study the beads. Those in the bottom section represent the numbers 1 through 4, called units or earth beads. Those at the top represent the numbers 5 and 10, called fives or heaven beads. For the purposes of adding and subtracting, use only one fives bead and ignore the other. Enter a three-digit number into the abacus. Start with the rightmos
