Created On:5 March 2018
Soroban means abacus in Japanese. Soroban, the Japanese model of the abacus, considered the ancestor of the calculator, is a computing instrument. Soroban's classical model, developed in the 1930s, is also used for mental arithmetic studies. A single bead above the middle beam of Soroban represents the value 5 (these beads are also called the heavenly bead) and the four beads below the beam represent the value 1 (earth beads). The number of sticks in a soroban is always odd. Basic models usually have thirteen bars.