Procedures:
1. Cut each skewer into 4" rods.
2. Place the tips of the rods onto one popsicle stick, centered and equidistant from each other. Trace the tips with a pencil.
3. Remove the rods and draw lines of glue over the pencil marks. Carefully place the rod tips onto the glue. (A popsicle stick placed under the rods helps to prop up the rods so the tips maintain contact with the first popsicle stick while the glue is drying.).
4. After the rod tips dry, thread two pony beads onto each rod. These will be your "Heaven" beads.
5. Place the second popsicle stick (for the center bar) under the rods about 3/4" down from the first popsicle stick. Mark the rod placement by tracing with a pencil. Draw lines of glue onto the pencil marks and glue the rods onto this stick. Be careful not to let the beads stick to the glue.
6. Thread five pony beads onto each rod for the "Earth" beads. Place a third popsicle stick under the rod tips and glue the tips to the stick.
7. Line up and glue a popsicle stick over each of the three sticks you glued the rods to earlier.
8. Another layer of three popsicle sticks will raise the abacus to prevent the beads from rubbing on the table surface. You're now looking at the back of the abacus. Flip the abacus over and enjoy!
Can you explain in your own words, using math language like "place value" and such, how the abacus works? Why did people use this? Why is it not used as much anymore?
12 comments:
The abacus works by using place value. The abacus uses beads to represent numbers. So on the top there are two beads. Then a middle line withsome space inbewtween. After ther is the bottom which has up to 5 beads. next, on the top the first column is the place value 5's. Every top's columns bead has 5 times the amount than on bead on the bottom. The first column on the bottom is the place value of the ones. Then tens then 100's and so on.Last, to use the abacus you push the beads to the center and add them.The top comes down and you add the top and the bottom.
People use the abacus to find out the sum or the difference or the quotient or the product. I only know how to add on the abacus but I wish i could multiply or divide or even subtract. They used the abacus to make calcalactions. They used the abacus in china.
We don't use the abacus since we have a thing called a calcaltor. The calcalator is a mechanical thing when you punch in numbers and walla.
What an informative and detailed response Neeraj!! Well done!!
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I had made one of these abacus before.Sometimes it might fall apart. Thats what happened to mine.I made another one.This time I glued mine tight.
The abacus works by place value. You start in the middle of the abacus. The top two beads on the top each bead is five the bottom beads each is one. They used the abacus like a calcalator.
The abacus is very cool.Place value is really important for the abacus.There are two beads on the top and five beads on the bottom. the middle line seperates the ones and the fives. The section that is up is the fives and the section at the bottom is the ones. The places are ones, tens, hundreds, thousands, ten thousands, hundred thousands, millions, ten millions, hundred millions, billions, ten billions, hundred billions, and trillions. Now I won't be that specific. Now there are quadrillions, quintillions, sextillions, septillions, nonillions, decillions, and undecillions.That is all I know
It is really cool how we can actually make a hand made abacus. I really liked the step when you have to put the beads in the bamboo skewers. The abacus really is like a calculator.
The top part is called heaven which contains two beads and the bottom is called Earth it contains five beads. On Earth each bead is a one and on Heaven it is five. The place value gets bigger while you go down the abacus. People used it to calculate and add digits and money. It is not used much because now we have a calculator.
In abucus place value is very important. Each of the ones on the topo represents five. Each of the ones of the bottom represents one. If you want to regroup you go either to the right or the left. People used abacus in the olden days to caculate things. For example like money. Abucus is not used any more because we have calculators. Some people think calculator is faster, is why some people don't use calculators anymore.
The abacus use place value because of it's colums. Which go by the ones then the tens and so on. Also, in china people used this to calculate the amount of money the person needed to pay. Know a days we use automatic tools such as calculator to calculatoe the amounts. That is how the abacus was used in china.
People used this tool a long time ago when we didn't have any calculators. The abacus is not too hard and not too easy to use. The beads are for calculating the numbers. It can be used as addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division. That is what makes it such a good tool. We don't use the abacus anymore because these days, the tech is really good. Therefore, we have the calculators to use. Calculators are much easier and faster to use because it is a machine. An abacus takes a longer time to figure out the number you need. It is only fast if you are used to it and your hands can move fast. This is why we don't use an abacus so often these days.
So the abacus can do any kind of math? Cool! The top beads are the Heavens and the bottom beads are people. But now we have an easier way to do math; we can we can just use a calculator, but the abacus is still a fun way to do math.
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