An abacus has ten strings, each with ten balls.
Abaco is a box made of wood that has 10 wires or ropes arranged in parallel . Each of these wires or ropes, in turn, has 10 balls that can move . The abacus (a term that comes from the Latin abăcus ), therefore, is an instrument that helps carry out simple accounts and calculations .
It was common for the abacus to be used in school to teach students the basic operations of arithmetic . In commerce , on the other hand, the abacus was used to make accounts.
History of the abacus
Historians believe that the abacus was the first man-made calculating instrument . Although it is not known precisely how their origin was, it is estimated that the first abacuses were developed with rocks and lines that were drawn on the ground.
Specifically, for many the origin of this calculating instrument would be found in Asia , and more precisely in China . However, for other historians it would be found in Africa since it seems that in the Sahara people were already using checkerboards both to carry out the necessary calculations in commercial transactions and to entertain themselves through what was a series of games. traditional.
In America , the local populations that were settled in the territory before the European arrival used a type of abacus known as quipu , whose ropes could be knotted in different ways to count or even to transmit messages.
The invention of the calculator and computers caused the abacus to lose popularity, although it is still used in several Asian countries.
The abacus is a calculating instrument that is of great antiquity.
Its current use
In this sense, we can establish that the abacus is currently used by billiard players all over the world. And this element or system is the one they use to mark the points that each of the participants in a game add.
In the same way, there is also the reading abacus, which is a table used to teach the little ones to read, or the Pythagorean abacus , which is the one used to carry out mathematical multiplication tasks.
The natural abacus
Likewise, we cannot ignore the fact that this term in question has been joined to another series of words to give rise to a series of already generalized concepts. In this way, it is also common to hear about the natural abacus , which comes to define the hand of any human being.
This name is due to the fact that this part of the body is considered to be the oldest abacus since it is the one that has allowed calculations and mathematical operations to be carried out since ancient times.
The notion in geography and architecture
The Abaco Islands , for their part, are located north of the Bahamas . It is an archipelago formed by the Little Abaco and Great Abaco islands and a significant number of small islands and cays. Its main economic support is tourism . The Abaco Islands have about 13,000 inhabitants, with Marsh Harbor being its most important city.
In classical architecture , finally, an abacus was a type of square table that was placed on the equine and crowned the capital, functioning as a seat for the architrave and protecting the decoration.