Why does the abacus exist? you may ask. It is dif
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Posted On: 10/07/2019 7:48:30 PM
Why does the abacus exist? you may ask.
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, capable of counting up to 10 things or less depending on how good you were with your axe; toes were also used to count in tropical cultures. Salty always adds his most prized appendage so he gets to 11. Then, as even larger quantities (greater than ten fingers and ten toes could represent) were counted, various natural items like pebbles, sea shells and twigs were used to help keep count. Salty has the original penny he first earned selling tickets to the cemetery. Folks were dying to get in.
Ebenezer Church Cemetery is said to be haunted by the ghost of a monstrous hound. According to legend, the hound is a huge white dog stalking the grounds. Some have seen it over the past century or so but many have heard the dog's otherworldly howls. No one knows where the hound came from or why it stays, but there are several theories. Some say the dog's master is buried in the cemetery, so the paranormal canine is keeping watch over him. Others claim the beast is an evil omen, a harbinger of unpleasantness to come. Also, who is goona clean up that ....But I digress.....
Merchants who traded goods needed a way to keep count (inventory) of the goods they bought and sold. Various portable counting devices were invented to keep tallies. The abacus is one of many counting devices invented to help count large numbers. When the Hindu-Arabic number system came into use, abaci were adapted to use place-value counting.
Abaci evolved into electro-mechanical calculators, pocket slide-rules, electronic calculators and now abstract representations of calculators or simulations on smartphones.
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, capable of counting up to 10 things or less depending on how good you were with your axe; toes were also used to count in tropical cultures. Salty always adds his most prized appendage so he gets to 11. Then, as even larger quantities (greater than ten fingers and ten toes could represent) were counted, various natural items like pebbles, sea shells and twigs were used to help keep count. Salty has the original penny he first earned selling tickets to the cemetery. Folks were dying to get in.
Ebenezer Church Cemetery is said to be haunted by the ghost of a monstrous hound. According to legend, the hound is a huge white dog stalking the grounds. Some have seen it over the past century or so but many have heard the dog's otherworldly howls. No one knows where the hound came from or why it stays, but there are several theories. Some say the dog's master is buried in the cemetery, so the paranormal canine is keeping watch over him. Others claim the beast is an evil omen, a harbinger of unpleasantness to come. Also, who is goona clean up that ....But I digress.....
Merchants who traded goods needed a way to keep count (inventory) of the goods they bought and sold. Various portable counting devices were invented to keep tallies. The abacus is one of many counting devices invented to help count large numbers. When the Hindu-Arabic number system came into use, abaci were adapted to use place-value counting.
Abaci evolved into electro-mechanical calculators, pocket slide-rules, electronic calculators and now abstract representations of calculators or simulations on smartphones.
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