Different
Kinds of Abaci
There are many kinds of abaci in
the world in Japan the
abacus is called the Soroban, in China it’s called the Suan-pan and in Russia
it’s called the Scet. The Soroban has one bead per column on the top row, and
has four beads per column on the bottom row and it is vertical (diagram 1).
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54,321
Diagram 1
The Saun-pan has 5 beads on the bottom and it has 2 beads
on the top row and it is vertical (diagram2).
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851,234
Diagram 2
The Scet is horizontal but the others are vertical. It has
four black then two white then four more black ones in each horizontal bar
(diagram 3).
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Diagram
3