The cap of coca cola soda drink was automatically called “counter” in my childhood because most of us at my age range had a bag full of this caps that aided us with counting, we used our fingers and toes and soon ran out of options when we got to 21 after counting all fingers and counting all toes! how funny!
Counting existed even before the invention of numbers, it was very limited but it had to be done beacause humans always needed to keep track of the number of particular things.
It is difficult to imagine counting without numbers, but there was a time when written numbers did not exist. The earliest counting device was the human hand and its fingers,Then, as even larger quantities (greater than ten fingers and toes could represent) were counted, various natural items like pebbles, sea shells and twigs were used to help keep count.
History of the Abaccus
Merchants of old, had to keep track of the things the sold in a very efficient way and among other devices and tools created for this use at that time the most efficient was the Abaccus. The word Abacus is a Latin word that has its origins in the Greek words abax or abakon (meaning “table” or “tablet”) which in turn, possibly originated from the Semitic word abq, meaning “sand” It is called Abaccus for singular and Abaci or Abaccuses for plural.
Abaci evolved into electro-mechanical calculators, pocket slide-rules, electronic calculators and now abstract representations of calculators or simulations on smartphones.
The abacus is still in use today by shopkeepers in Asia and “Chinatowns” in North America. The abacus is still taught in Asian schools, and a few schools in the West. Blind children are taught to use the abacus where their sighted counterparts would be taught to use paper and pencil to perform calculations.
One particular use for the abacus is teaching children simple mathematics and especially multiplication; the abacus is an excellent substitute for rote memorization of multiplication tables, a particularily detestable task for young children. The abacus is also an excellent tool for teaching other base numbering systems since it easily adapts itself to any base.
The abacus, called Suan-Pan in Chinese, as it appears today, was first chronicled circa 1200 C.E. in China. The device was made of wood with metal re-inforcements. On each rod, the classic Chinese abacus has 2 beads on the upper deck and 5 on the lower deck; such an abacus is also referred to as a 2/5 abacus. The 2/5 style survived unchanged until circa 1850 at which time the 1/5 (one bead on the top deck and five beads on the bottom deck) abacus appeared.
Have you used an Abaccus before? we will be pleased to hear from you.