jccAbacus
算盤 算盘
Soroban (そろばん), Suànpán: Some traditional and advanced methods
(This website is still under construction and writing!)
1:4 modern soroban used with Modern Method
Foreword
The oriental abacus is currently being studied following the so-called Modern Method, an adaptation of the techniques of the past for students with a prior knowledge of written arithmetic, so that they can begin to take advantage of its use as quickly as possible. This adaptation is based on the use of a 1:4 abacus (one upper bead that is worth 5 and four lower beads that are worth one) and allows the realization of any type of calculation, but leaves aside certain refinements of the Traditional Method that seem dedicated to making life with the abacus more comfortable even if it takes some time to learn.
If, after learning the modern method, you are curious about some aspects of the Traditional Method, you may encounter the difficulty that the information is scarce and dispersed. On this website I mainly try to gather what I have been able to find about it, and additionally offer some non-traditional methods or algorithms that I have developed by myself, some personal thoughts and some other material that I hope is original.
2:5 traditional suanpan showing additional and suspended beads
If you are new to the oriental abacus, maybe you should start by reading about the Modern Method, otherwise you can use the upper menu or the hamburger button (≡) at the top left as a sitemap to navigate, or...