This is the HTML history page. (Note*: Deal to some important problems, we will temporarily, if not permanently, shut down the Flash history page despite the probable usefulness of it. Sorry for the inconvenience).

In the world we live in today, if we ever wanted to do some complex arithmetic that couldn't be done mentally, we could easily use a calculator or even a desktop computer. But before we had calculators and computers, which is actually quite recent, we had to use some other means to do calculations. Paper and a writing instrument is one example. However, writing everything out can be tiring and cumbersome, and so some people wanted other methods of doing arithmetic; this is where the abacus came into hand.

Although it has not been confirmed, the history of the abacus probably traced back to ancient Mesopotamia. The people probably drew lines on the ground and used pebbles to represent numbers and do calculations. Later on, in other parts of the world, clay tablets were used. One such tablet was excavated in Greece and is now in the Epigraphical Museum in Athens. The Romans and Greeks later on used pebbles on metal disks in a similar manner.

Eventually pebbles were replaced with beads and lines with strings and the first abaci were made. Again, it is not certain, but it seems the abacus spread from central Asia to many parts of the world and was improved on.

Today, the 2/5 (2 beads on top section, 5 bead on bottom section) style abacus, invented by the Chinese, is still widely used in China, and the Japanese continue to use their 1/4 style abacus. Different styles also exist in places like Russia, and in 1958, a Chinese by the name of Lee Kai Chen invented a new style of abacus with 4 decks.