The Abacus

An abacus (plurals abacuses or abaci), also called a counting frame, is a calculating tool for performing arithmetical processes, often constructed as a wooden frame with beads sliding on wires. The user, called anabacist, slides counters by hand on rods or in grooves.  It was in use centuries before the adoption of the written Hindu-Arabic numeral system and is still widely used by merchants and clerks in China, Japan, Africa and elsewhere.–New World Encyclopedia

1. ↑ “abacist,” “abacus,” in Merriam-Webster’s Third New International Dictionary Unabridged, 2000, Version 2.5.

 

 

San Francisco, 1890’s

 

Chinatown, NYC, 1942

 

Please visit the Abacus Chinese Medicine site here for information on Chinese Medicine and acupuncture available in Louisville, KY.