Calculating with beads

For a long time, the abacus used to be the most important reckoning aid in many parts of the earth. Even today, children in Japan learn how to handle the Japanese abacus, the soroban, in school. Calculating with it promotes concentration and ambition to produce the right result. In spite of the fact that nowadays we only encounter the abacus in kindergartens and primary schools as a means of playful learning, its cultural-historical value is not to be underestimated.

This book depicts the development of the abacus in the Roman Empire, in China, in Japan, Russia and as a reckoning board in schools. The diversity of this instrument is equally fascinating as its special forms and its reception in art.

A book on the history and functionality of the mechanical reckoning aid, which is more than 3,000 years old.