Abacus

The abacus, also called a counting frame, is a calculating tool that was in use in the ancient Near East, Europe, China, and Russia, centuries before the adoption of the written Arabic numeral system. The exact origin of the abacus is still unknown. The abacus essentially consists of a number of rows of movable beads or other objects, which represent numbers. One of two numbers is set up, and the beads are manipulated to implement an operation involving a second number. Register for our abacus classes here!