| The SOROBAN, known as the Japanese abacus in
English, is considered to be the first calculator in
Japan and has played a significant role in the
cultural and educational development of the country.
We believe soroban to be representative of many
aspects of the Japanese culture. We hope this soroban
homepage will answer your many questions: What is soroban?
Where does it come from? What role does it play in our
changing modern society? Why is it considered so highly
in the basic education for getting calculating ability? |
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| The SOROBAN is a rectangular wooden
instrument used to do calculations based on the
decimal system. The frame is 33 by 6 centimeters.
It has vertical rods with sliding beads and
a fixed bar across the rods. The standard Japanese
soroban used today has 23 rods with 5 beads each,
1 above the bar and 4 below.
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