ABACUS

Today we enjoy the benefits of modern technology, but it has not always been this way. Humanity has travelled a long road to develop the technologies that make many tasks happen almost instantly and make our lives so much easier. If people from the past could see the technological wonders we have today, they would probably have wished to reach our time as quickly as possible. However, progress cannot be forced. It does not happen through sudden intellectual leaps. Discoveries cannot appear overnight. Progress is the result of a long and often difficult journey during which countless small inventions gradually accumulate until they eventually become one great discovery.

Let us take the calculator as an example. Today we hardly think of it as something extraordinary. It is simply a device powered by electricity or batteries that enables us to perform complex calculations involving complicated mathematical operations and very large numbers. Nowadays calculators are integrated into computers, tablets and even mobile phones.

Long before electronic calculators existed, however, a much simpler device performed a similar role—the abacus. Yes, the same abacus that many people today think of merely as a toy used by young children before they start school. As children grow older, they often consider the abacus boring and limited compared with electronic games and digital devices.

Be honest—when was the last time you held an abacus in your hands?

Centuries ago, people thought very differently. The abacus was once an invaluable tool used in trade, education and everyday life. At a time when technology did not exist, electricity was still unknown and life was much simpler, the abacus was an extraordinary invention. Its development was neither simple nor immediate.

Remember what we said about progress: it is a gradual process built upon the accumulation of ideas, discoveries and growing knowledge. It never happens overnight.

Mathematics is often described as a universal language because it can be used by engineers, physicists, economists, computer scientists and many other professionals. They all understand its symbolic language without translation. Every person, regardless of their country or native language, understands the expression 2 + 2 = 4 in exactly the same way.

In this sense, mathematics is precise and universal because a particular calculation always produces one correct result. Yet what exactly do the numbers 2 and 4 represent? They may stand for two apples, two books, two smiles or even two galaxies. Mathematics tells us the quantity but not the nature of the objects. This is what makes mathematics both exact and wonderfully abstract.

Mathematics crosses national borders effortlessly. Its symbolic language brings people together because it developed from humanity's practical need to understand the world—how to count, measure, compare and describe shapes. The abacus itself was born from this same desire: to understand the measurable world around us.

Perhaps you thought it would all be much simpler.

The abacus is generally regarded as the oldest known calculating device. It consists of a wooden frame containing rods with movable beads. Each rod represents a different place value—units, tens, hundreds, thousands and so on. Each bead represents a number, and by moving the beads along the rods, users can perform basic arithmetic operations such as addition and subtraction.

The Greek historian Herodotus mentioned the use of counting boards as early as the fifth century BCE. Archaeological discoveries suggest that various forms of the abacus appeared independently in different civilisations many centuries ago. The Romans, for example, used small stones called calculi, which they moved across specially marked counting boards. Interestingly, the modern word calculate comes from the Latin word calculus, meaning "small stone".

The word abacus itself comes from Latin, which borrowed it from Greek, where it referred to a flat surface or counting table. Long before wooden abacuses appeared, people often drew lines in sand and used stones or pebbles to carry out simple calculations.

China played a particularly important role in the history of the abacus. The Chinese version, known as the suanpan, has been used for many centuries and is still taught and used in some situations today. Historical records describing its use date back more than two thousand years. It allows fast and accurate addition, subtraction, multiplication and division.

The Chinese abacus later influenced neighbouring countries. Korea adopted a similar device around the fifteenth century, while Japan introduced its own version, known as the soroban, during the seventeenth century after it had been brought from China.

Even today, Japanese primary schools sometimes teach children how to use the soroban because it develops mental arithmetic, concentration and logical thinking.

Russia also adopted the abacus, introducing its own version during the nineteenth century. Although electronic calculators have almost completely replaced it, some people still know how to use it today.

The abacus is thousands of years old. Yet the human need to count and calculate is even older. Ever since people began observing the world around them, they have wanted to measure, compare and understand it. Human curiosity has always been one of the greatest driving forces behind progress.

Activities

Activity 1: Compare the advantages and disadvantages of the abacus, the calculator and the computer. Which one develops mathematical thinking most effectively? Which one is the fastest? Which one is the most practical today?

Activity 2: Try to predict what the future of technology may look like. What will come after computers? Could intelligent robots become our assistants—or perhaps even our twins, capable of representing us in places where we cannot be ourselves? What do you think about this idea?

(Elena S. Lyubenova)