Difference between revisions of "Janine Baranski"

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(Wiki Entry #1: Chinese Abacus)
(Wiki Entry #1: Chinese Abacus)
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==Wiki Entry #1: Chinese Abacus==
 
==Wiki Entry #1: Chinese Abacus==
  
The Chinese abacus or the suan-pan was first documented around 1200 A.D. It, like all abaci, was created to help with calculations. An abacus is a mechanical aid for counting. An abacus is made of a wooden frame with a upper and lower deck separated by a horizontal beam. Vertical poles run from top to bottom through this beam. Beads, used for counting, are located on these poles and can be slid up or down on them. The difference between abaci lies in the number and distribution of its beads. The suan-pan is a 2/5 abacus. This means that there are two beads in the upper deck and five in the lower. The beads in the upper deck have a value of 5 units and the beads of the lower deck have a value of 1 unit. The beads on each pole are worth ten times the bead on the pole to the right. This means that the first pole is the ones position, the next to the left is the tens position, and then hundreds and so forth. If one wished to use decimal places they chose a pole other than that of the far right as the ones position and then the poles to the right would be decimal places. When using a Chinese abacus one uses the thumb to slide a bead in the lower deck up and the index finger to slide it down. The middle finger is used to move beads in the upper deck. A number was counted when the bead was slide towards the middle beam. Thus a total of 9 could be counted with one upper bead and four lower beads. The second bead on the upper deck was used temporarily when dividing, allowing for up to fifteen on one pole. The abacus was not used for actual computation. The person doing the calculation used the abacus to keep track of figures while the whole calculation was done mentally.(Fernandes, 2012)
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The Chinese abacus or the suan-pan was first documented around 1200 A.D. It, like all abaci, was created to help with calculations. An abacus is a mechanical aid for counting. An abacus is made of a wooden frame with a upper and lower deck separated by a horizontal beam. Vertical poles run from top to bottom through this beam. Beads, used for counting, are located on these poles and can be slid up or down on them. The difference between abaci lies in the number and distribution of its beads. The suan-pan is a 2/5 abacus. This means that there are two beads in the upper deck and five in the lower. The beads in the upper deck have a value of 5 units and the beads of the lower deck have a value of 1 unit. The beads on each pole are worth ten times the bead on the pole to the right. This means that the first pole is the ones position, the next to the left is the tens position, and then hundreds and so forth. If one wished to use decimal places they chose a pole other than that of the far right as the ones position and then the poles to the right would be decimal places. When using a Chinese abacus one uses the thumb to slide a bead in the lower deck up and the index finger to slide it down. The middle finger is used to move beads in the upper deck. A number was counted when the bead was slide towards the middle beam. Thus a total of 9 could be counted with one upper bead and four lower beads. The second bead on the upper deck was used temporarily when dividing, allowing for up to fifteen on one pole. The abacus was not used for actual computation. The person doing the calculation used the abacus to keep track of figures while the whole calculation was done mentally. (Fernandes, 2012)
  
 
The abacus was important in the development of digital computers and the history of the digital age. It was a necessary step on the path from counting with fingers to modern computers. This path was created because people needed to be able to count higher and higher numbers, and then compute more and more complex calculations. Before devices like the abacus, fingers were used for counting. This became a problem when people began to need to count over ten. They then began to use pebbles, sticks, or lines in the dirt to count. These items were difficult to transport, easy to knock over or scatter. Eventually someone came up with the abacus which was a relatively secure, portable solution. However, even the abacus was not perfect. There are many different types of them as people tried to improve its function. The suan-pan itself was eventually modified into a 1/4 abacus by the Japanese called the soroban. This simplified the abacus and removed some of the redundancy of the suan-pan such as the need for two upper beads. The short comings of abaci and its replacements inspired better devices that eventually lead to the digital computers of today. (Dalakov, 2012)
 
The abacus was important in the development of digital computers and the history of the digital age. It was a necessary step on the path from counting with fingers to modern computers. This path was created because people needed to be able to count higher and higher numbers, and then compute more and more complex calculations. Before devices like the abacus, fingers were used for counting. This became a problem when people began to need to count over ten. They then began to use pebbles, sticks, or lines in the dirt to count. These items were difficult to transport, easy to knock over or scatter. Eventually someone came up with the abacus which was a relatively secure, portable solution. However, even the abacus was not perfect. There are many different types of them as people tried to improve its function. The suan-pan itself was eventually modified into a 1/4 abacus by the Japanese called the soroban. This simplified the abacus and removed some of the redundancy of the suan-pan such as the need for two upper beads. The short comings of abaci and its replacements inspired better devices that eventually lead to the digital computers of today. (Dalakov, 2012)

Revision as of 19:23, 21 May 2012

Wiki Entry #1: Chinese Abacus

The Chinese abacus or the suan-pan was first documented around 1200 A.D. It, like all abaci, was created to help with calculations. An abacus is a mechanical aid for counting. An abacus is made of a wooden frame with a upper and lower deck separated by a horizontal beam. Vertical poles run from top to bottom through this beam. Beads, used for counting, are located on these poles and can be slid up or down on them. The difference between abaci lies in the number and distribution of its beads. The suan-pan is a 2/5 abacus. This means that there are two beads in the upper deck and five in the lower. The beads in the upper deck have a value of 5 units and the beads of the lower deck have a value of 1 unit. The beads on each pole are worth ten times the bead on the pole to the right. This means that the first pole is the ones position, the next to the left is the tens position, and then hundreds and so forth. If one wished to use decimal places they chose a pole other than that of the far right as the ones position and then the poles to the right would be decimal places. When using a Chinese abacus one uses the thumb to slide a bead in the lower deck up and the index finger to slide it down. The middle finger is used to move beads in the upper deck. A number was counted when the bead was slide towards the middle beam. Thus a total of 9 could be counted with one upper bead and four lower beads. The second bead on the upper deck was used temporarily when dividing, allowing for up to fifteen on one pole. The abacus was not used for actual computation. The person doing the calculation used the abacus to keep track of figures while the whole calculation was done mentally. (Fernandes, 2012)

The abacus was important in the development of digital computers and the history of the digital age. It was a necessary step on the path from counting with fingers to modern computers. This path was created because people needed to be able to count higher and higher numbers, and then compute more and more complex calculations. Before devices like the abacus, fingers were used for counting. This became a problem when people began to need to count over ten. They then began to use pebbles, sticks, or lines in the dirt to count. These items were difficult to transport, easy to knock over or scatter. Eventually someone came up with the abacus which was a relatively secure, portable solution. However, even the abacus was not perfect. There are many different types of them as people tried to improve its function. The suan-pan itself was eventually modified into a 1/4 abacus by the Japanese called the soroban. This simplified the abacus and removed some of the redundancy of the suan-pan such as the need for two upper beads. The short comings of abaci and its replacements inspired better devices that eventually lead to the digital computers of today. (Dalakov, 2012)

Works Cited

Dalakov, G. (2012, January 22). History of computers and computing, calculating tools, the abacus. Retrieved from http://history-computer.com/CalculatingTools/abacus.html

Fernandes, L. (2012, August 11). Abacus. Retrieved from http://www.ee.ryerson.ca:8080/~elf/abacus/