Abacus History

Abacus, one of the significant calculation methods with a crucial contribution to the development of China, originated 2,600 years ago. Known as the Fifth Great Invention of China, abacus was named as the “101 inventions that changed the world” which have promoted the development of human society, within which the abacus ranks the first.

While ancient Greek mathematics focused on theorem proving, ancient Chinese mathematics focused on algorithm development, particularly for solving equations; it intended to address practical issues and was characterised by algorithm and mechanisation, in other words, Mathematical Decomposition. From which, students who were taught abacus have an easier time grasping Mathematical topics and thrive in Science due to their innate problem-solving skills.

Abacus and Mental Arithmetic has aided people in developing their mathematical skills and interests, and its educational implications in other subjects are highly significant.

Why Abacus?

Why do we still teach an ancient tool in a high tech computing world?

Some parents consider abacus training as a way to improve their children mathematical ability, only to find out later that they not only excel mathematically but also exhibited some extraordinary skills and benefits that radiated onto all subjects in their education and these intangible skills progressed further into their adult life. Some of these intangible skills included: Focus, Memory, Observation, Perceptivity, Thinking, Imaginations, Strategic Thinking, Independence, Organising etc. See our Benefits page.