The Abacus: The World's First Computing System: Where It Comes From, How It Works, and How to Use It to Perform Mathematical Feats

by Jesse Dilson

Book Overview

The abacus is as useful and effecient a machine today as it was when it was first created centures ago. Whether you're an expert in the latest computer technology or you're mastering arithmetic and word problems for the first time, it won't take long to learn the basics (and even the not-so-basics) of adding, subtracting, multiplying, and dividing on this ingenious and fun-to-use mathematical tool.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 031210409X
• ISBN13: 9780312104092
• Release Date: March 1995
• Publisher: St. Martin's Griffin
• Length: 144 Pages
• Weight: 0.35 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.0" x 5.7" x 8.3"

Customer Reviews

Spectacular Abaci

This book is an excellent resource for kids that are struggling with math. Math becomes fun, and even competetive. The abacus, though somewhat primitive in the eyes of a novice, or to someone that has never seen one in action, is an excellent tool for helping children to understand and perform great mathematical feats. This book is a step by step, easy to understand guide to the ancient technique of the abacus, and I strongly encourage any parent with a struggling child to purchase one.

Delightful--entertaining and informative

I spent years mildly curious about the abacus--particularly, any time I saw film of schoolkids or shopkeepers in Asia producing inerrant sums and differences with their fingers all a blur. Then, I saw this book, bundled with a little wooden abacus, and decided I'd give this ancient calculator a try. I found the book an delight, with its friendly discussions of the history of the abacus, its variant forms from land to land (Chinese vs. Japanese, etc.), and, even its jolly little excursion into binary arithmetic on the abacus. Yes, I suppose it is a short book, and it doesn't spend a lot of pages on mathematical drill, but how many pages do you need? It's not like there's a complicated operating system or scripting language for this venerable tool...just the curious yet undeniable pleasure of sliding beads along sticks, just as people have been doing for centuries...I should also mention that the abacus makes a great conversation piece, sitting out on the top of your Pentium tower at work. "My new palmtop," I tell everyone who asks.

Fun for all ages!

This book is excellent for learning basic information about the abacus. This book demonstrates at a late elementary school level. For those with prior experience and or knowledge related to the abacus, the best part is that an abacus is included! This book is very informational and useful. The abacus (Chinese version or 2/5 style) can be used for experimentation and demonstration- I used it on an overhead for a presentation to a large audience!

Really neat!

This is a really great book for explaining the basics of the abacus (soroban). It comes with an actual abacus so you can start practicing using it. This is a must if you a person who really loves Math... Plus it is really fun to use!

Intro to the Abacus

This is a good beginners introduction to the abacus. It is too wordy for young children and will require an adult to explain. It gave me enough detail to understand the basics and start using the abacus after about 15 minutes.