Types of Abacuses, Russian Abacus

Types of Abacus

Russian Abacus

Photo Source

Wikimedia Commons

License

Public Domain

There are many varieties of Abacus, in the case of the Russian abacus, not the exception.

The Russian Abacus School (счёты), is characterized by a sloping roof, with 10 ovals or spheres or hemispheres like beads on each wire (execptuando a wire, the 4th. They usually do not have 10 but four pearls, beads or hemispheres wood. These four counts, hemispheres or wooden beads are used for fractional quarter rubles).

Older models of Russians have another cable Abacus 4 quarter- kopeks accounts, which were minted until 1916. The Russian abacus is often used vertically, with wires or wires from left to right along the lines of a book. Wires, cables or threads usually tend to lean or accumulate on the top center of the abacus, to maintain the spheres, beads, beads or pearls, placed at either side.

In the case of Russian Abacus, such a count, is cleared when all grains, beads, or beads hemispheres slide to the right. During counting, the grains move to the left, for easy viewing in the center 2 balls, spheres, beads or beads on each wire (the 5th and 6th bead) usually are of a different color than the other eight grains or accounts. Similarly, the left has thousands wire (and the wire million, is also present), sometimes you can have a different color.

As an inexpensive tool, simple, and reliable, the Russian abacus was in use in all shops and markets throughout the former Soviet Union, and in use for teaching in most schools until the 1990s. All this despite the fact that in 1874 he invented the first mechanical calculator, and therefore the government had not replaced in Russia; same occurred with the use and mass production Arithmometer Felix in 1924, which also significantly reduced the use Russian Abacus throughout the former Soviet Union. Actually the Russian abacus began to fall into disuse in 1974, with the large- scale arrival of Microcalculators or hand calculators; Today sees the Russian abacus, a primitive mathematical tool, however there is no denying his great mathematical value and utility at the time, obviously before the mass entry of global technology and large-scale electronic devices.

Russian Abacus History - (Types Abacus, Russian Abacus)

In 1820 the French mathematician Jean Victor Poncelet, brought France the Russian abacus, which was used by the Napoleonic army. Meanwhile the general Abacus had fallen into disuse in western Europe in the sixteenth century, with the development and emergence of decimal notation and other algorithmic methods, generally used on paper, account books, or scrolls intended for such purposes. However the Mathematician Poncelet used it educational purposes as demo material for your contemporary French compatriots of the time.

Many of these teachings remain to this day in theory at schools in order to facilitate understanding sometimes a little abstract mathematics, when only implemented the same electronic devices such as calculators, computers, and supercomputers as well as the use that connect the abstract reality abacuses between calculators and the physical world, facilitating their understanding.