You mean I don't have to use my fingers?

Author: Vinh Vu

Year: 500 BC

The first actual calculating mechanism known to us is the abacus, which is thought to have been invented by the Babylonians sometime around 300 BC, although some pundits are of the opinion that it was actually invented by the Chinese. The oldest abacus discovered to date was in 1899 on the island of Salamis. The word abacus comes to us by way of Latin as a mutation of the Greek word abax. In turn, the Greeks may have adopted the Phoenician word abak, meaning "sand", although some authorities lean toward the Hebrew word abhaq, meaning "dust."

Irrespective of the source, the original concept referred to a flat stone covered with sand (or dust) into which numeric symbols were drawn. The first abacus was almost certainly based on such a stone, with pebbles being placed on lines drawn in the sand. Over time the stone was replaced by a wooden frame supporting thin sticks, braided hair, or leather thongs, onto which clay beads or pebbles with holes were threaded.

A variety of different types of abacus were developed, but the most popular became those based on the bi-quinary system, which utilizes a combination of two bases (base-2 and base-5) to represent decimal numbers. Although the abacus does not qualify as a mechanical calculator, it certainly stands proud as one of first mechanical aids to calculation.

As a learning tool, the abacus made somewhat difficult calculations easier and addition and subtraction seem trivial. It also paved the way for more advanced forms of calculating machines, such as da Vinci's mechanical calculator to Texas Instruments' TI-85.

Here are some further links:

The Abacus: The Art of Calculating with Beads
The History of the Abacus

page last updated: February 6, 2002