Hey, I just got a new suan pan - that is Chinese for abacus. You know the ancient counting frame style calculator. That weird thingy the Chinese had to use because they were too poor to have electronic calculators, I was told. You know those beads on a stick that were faster in the hands of a skilled user than any other calculator or adding machine until the mid 1990's. My father worked as an engineer in Asia and he would tell me stories of the Chinese gongchengshi, the engineers, that could run circles around him with both his slide rule and his newfangled L.E.D. calculator.
So my own personal China problem is this,
How do you use an abacus? I mean really use an abacus?
I got the easy part figured out, I could add like a M'F'er ten minutes out of the box, but what I really want to learn is other functions and operations. I know China has had its share of great mathematicians, and I am reasonably sure they did most of their work arithmetic on the suanpan.
I am hoping that my alarmist diary title will be taken in good humor, as you see I am particularly trying to attract people that know how to use one of these things and can offer me some friendly suggestions. Web links to instructional sites would be great, English or Chinese language is preferred. I have reached the limit of my ability to google (or baidu) in Chinese because of Microsoft calling its windows calculator accessory xiao suanpan which means "little abacus".
I also am doing research on the education system in rural China with particular attention to math and science curriculum. If anyone has access to Chinese math books from either the mainland or Taiwan, please let me know in the comments. I have a limited budget to purchase these books, so used books are welcome.
Have you tried the online abacus site. It has a Chinese or Japanese layout.
Now I know this diary is a tribute to the old school, but it would be rude of me not to thank all the generous Kossacks that sent calculators to the school where I teach math. They have made a huge difference.
Our local Charter School on the Yurok Reservation is still in need of donated graphing calculators if you have a used TI89,or TI83/84 you would like put to good use by some bright kids. Please put it in a box and ship to the following
Shipping Address:
Klamath River Early College
PO BOX 849
168 Klamath Bl
Klamath, CA 95548 - [Yurok Reservation]
Phone 707-482-1737