Abacus Types - Roman Abacus
Copper Count Table Roman Types of Abacus Abacus Roman Photo Source: Wikimedia Commons In the picture you can see a reconstruction or a copy of Roman Abacus, made by the German Museum in Mainz RGZ, better known as Museum Mainz in 1977. The Original Roman Abacus, made of bronze and is in the National Library of France in Paris. The ancient Romans developed an abacus in its completely portable base 10, much like its predecessor, the base 10 Babylonian abacus . It was the first portable calculating device for engineers, merchants and presumably tax collectors. The Romans designed with the aim of reducing the time required to perform basic arithmetic operations, using of course, Roman numerals. As Karl Menninger says on page 315 of his book, "For long and complicated calculations, for example to survey or census of the landlords and their possessions, used in addition to hand abacus, a true calculation with unit counters or pebbles. Cam...