Un souci? Un renseignement? Nous sommes disponibles tous les jours de 9h à 20h
Features
- 42.6 x 17.1 x 3 cm
- Made from solid wood
- Black painted finish with satin varnish
This Chinese abacus features a finely crafted solid wood construction highlighted by a smooth black satin finish. It is very pleasant to use and also serves as an attractive decorative piece.
How Does a Chinese Abacus Work?
The Chinese abacus is an excellent tool to improve math skills. It helps practice basic operations, fraction decomposition, and mental arithmetic. The Chinese abacus consists of a frame where beads can be arranged in various ways on columns. To perform a calculation, simply slide the beads up or down the appropriate columns. The calculation is done mentally without writing, and once finished, the beads are freely dropped back; you can then start a new calculation by resetting the abacus to zero, observe the previous result, or use the previous result to perform another operation.
The abacus can be used by children starting from age 7. While its use is not limited to this age range, younger children often find it difficult to grasp number concepts and operations. The Chinese abacus is an excellent learning tool to master fast and accurate calculation, understand the decimal system, and work on mental arithmetic. Note that practicing with an abacus facilitates overall math learning for children who use it.
The Chinese abacus operates on a decimal system (or hexadecimal). It can represent numbers from 0 to 999999999999999 (15 columns = 15 powers of ten). The beads are arranged in 5 groups of 3 columns, allowing calculation of the following: sums and differences, additions and subtractions, multiplications, divisions, square roots, and percentages.
It is worth noting that alongside its role as a mathematical instrument, the abacus can also be used as a game for leisure and recreation. The Chinese abacus is made of wood; its size varies depending on the age group it targets. This model is the largest size we offer. (however, we do have even larger soroban available)
What Is a Chinese Abacus?
The Chinese abacus is called 算盘 (suan pan) in China and is also known as the “father of all calculating tools.” The Suan Pan has been used in China for over 2000 years! In Chinese, “Suan Pan” literally means calculating tray or board. The term 算盘 consists of two characters: 算 and 盘.
The character 算 (suàn) has a long history in China and originally meant “the number used to record items for trade”; later, it came to mean “calculation.” The character 盘 (pán) means tray or board. Thus, Suan Pan literally means calculation tray.
The first Suan Pan was made of wood, with horizontal bars and vertical rods.
Its use spread from China to Japan, Korea, and Vietnam, where it became an integral part of their respective cultures. The original Chinese name was retained but the pronunciation changed slightly: Soroban (Japan), Son Ba (Korea).
