Message from the Fancy Footwork Ping List!
Posted on 10/21/2010 5:58:39 PM PDT by SunkenCiv
Abacus is a Latin word meaning sand tray. The word originates with the Arabic "abq", which means dust or fine sand. In Greek this would become abax or abakon which means table or tablet...
Probably, the first device was the counting board. This appeared at various times in several places around the world. The earliest counting boards consisted of a tray made of sun dried clay or wood. A thin layer of sand would be spread evenly on the surface, and symbols would be drawn in the sand with a stick or ones finger. To start anew, one would simply shake the tray or even out the sand by hand.
Eventually... pebbles were used, and placed in parallel grooves carved into stone counting boards... As part of their primary education, young boys in both Greece and Rome learned at least some arithmetic using an abax or abacus... the Romans added additional grooves... the Roman numerals I, V, X, L, C, D, M. The Latin term for pebble is calculus...
In the quest for an easily portable counting device, the Romans invented the hand abacus... The Roman hand abacus on display in the London Science Museum would fit in a modern shirt pocket. The bead arrangement is like the modern [Chinese] soroban... There is a photograph of another Roman hand abacus at the Museo Nazionale Ramano at Piazzi delle Terme, Rome.
Some people believe that the Roman abacus, which pre-dates the Chinese suan-pan, was introduced into China early in the Christian era by trading merchants.
(Excerpt) Read more at webhome.idirect.com ...
Message from the Fancy Footwork Ping List!
>A thin layer of sand would be spread evenly on the surface, and symbols would be drawn in the sand with a stick or ones finger.<
.
That’s exactly what I notice whenever I press the “ENTER” key.
They still make those. They are called Etch a Sketch now.
ABBA
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That’s the best photos I’ve ever seen of those two women; the one on the left was born in 1945, the one on the right in 1950.
Late seventies and eighties Swedish pop group ABBA's Nazi connection is through no fault of their own. This connection centers on group member Anni-Frid Lyngstad. As a young girl growing up Norway, she was shunned and subject to ridicule as were all "Tyskerbarnas", a derisive post-war term for the children of Norwegian mothers and German fathers, also known as "Lebensborn."
Lyngstad was one of thousands of children produced by the Nazi Lebensborn program created by SS leader Heinrich Himmler. In this program, German soldiers were encouraged and rewarded for impregnating "Aryan" women in occupied Scandinavian countries to further the Master Race. And during the occupation, the mothers and children were given special treatment from the rest of the population. Thanks to Norway's collaborationist government headed by Vidkun Quisling, the program was a success. There were between 10,000-12,000 Lebensborn children in Norway alone. In Anni-Frid Lyngstad's case, she was the result of a liaison between her Norwegian mother and Alfred Haase, a married German sergeant.
After the war, Anni-Frid's mother and grandmother were branded as traitors in their Norwegian village. Hundreds of Lebensborn children were treated as if they were mentally retarded and put in insane asylums for years. Thousands of mothers and children were put in Norway's prisons and branded as retarded. Others were forced to leave the country. After Anni-Frid's mother died when she was two years old, Lyngstad and her grandmother were forced to immigrate to Sweden.
In 1999, a Lebensborn survivors group was founded. Anni-Frid was by far the most famous member of the survivors. In 2002, the group, including Lyngstad, first petitioned Norway's court system to grant them compensation for their years of torment and persecution, some of it institutionalized.
The venerable bead!
During the early 50’s we were actually taught to use the abacus in school. They were fairly easy to use and also could be quick.
I guess the electronic calculator ended both the abacus and slide rule as far as any real usefulness.
Wow, interesting. I’ve wondered if the Lebensborn program was inspired by Islamic polygamy.
LOL!
We had a session or two of abacus when I was in, hmm, 1st or 2nd grade. Of course, teachers (particularly elementary school teachers) were (are?) notoriously poor at teaching math.
Soroban is Japanese.
I learned how to operate a soroban on Okinawa in 1969. It was interesting watching ta sale in a store. The customer would carry her purchases to the counter. Both the clerk and the customer would produce their sorobans and put them opposite each other on the counter. Each would add up the merchandise on the beads then present the result for approval to the other. If the two devices agreed the total was rung up on the cash register and the sale was completed. If they did not agree then they did it all over again, this time one item at a time while speaking the prices.
I remember seeing a bunch of elementary school age kids on TV doing complicated math problems extremely fast without any outside mechanical device. It was unbelievable.
It appeared they were taught to use the digits on their hands similarly to the abacus, ie different fingers for 100s, tens, and so forth.
Anyone else remember that or know the system?
I remember seeing a bunch of elementary school age kids on TV doing complicated math problems extremely fast without any outside mechanical device. It was unbelievable.
It appeared they were taught to use the digits on their hands similarly to the abacus, ie different fingers for 100s, tens, and so forth.
Anyone else remember that or know the system?
Google “Chisenbop”
Cool! Technology in the assistance of intelligence, dexterity, honesty in business!
I think Popeye used that method. ;’)
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