The ‘Abacus’ was first discovered by the Chinese in 3000 BC. It was initially made of wood and beads sliding over wires. The main use of abacus when it was discovered was for simple calculation or keeping count of numbers. There are different versions of abacus such as Egyptian, Persian, Greek, Roman, Indian, Japanese, Native American, etc. The person who uses abacus is known as an ‘abacist’.
Abacus also has a different form which is called a Cranmer Abacus named after its inventor Tim Cranmer. It is used by the individuals who are blind. Another form of abacus is called the Binary abacus which is mainly used to explain how numbers are manipulated by computers. In spite of many other play tools and toys, abacus is still parents’ and elementary school’s first choice when it comes to teaching numbers for kids in pre- school.
