10 The abacus

Warm-up
Problem 10.1 Insert the signs + and − between the digits below to make a
correct statement. Try to find as many solutions as possible.

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 = 100

Lesson
A great tool for teaching children addition and subtraction of multi-digit numbers is
the Russian abacus, a deck with multiple wires and ten beads on each wire as on the
picture below.

1
 Abaci1 were used in the societies pre-dating Ancient Greece, such as Sumerian,
Egyptian, Hebrew, and others. The word abacus originates from the Hebrew ābāq,
meaning dust. The computers of the ancient world were first made of sand grooves
filled with stones, hence the name.

Forgotten in Europe by the end of the 16th century, the abacus was reintro-
duced by the French mathematician Jean-Victor Poncelet. A military engineer in
the Napoleon army, Monsieur Poncelet was captured by the Russian troops in 1812
and released in 1814. He brought the abacus to France from his Russian captivity
and began using it as a teaching tool. In Russia itself, the abacus was a standard
computational device on every counter, from a bank to a grocery store, until the
middle of the 1980s, when it eventually got replaced by electronic calculators.

We call the abacus’s top wire the first, the second from the top wire the second,
etc. We use the beads on the first wire to count ones, the beads on the second wire
to count tens, the beads on the third wire to count hundreds and so forth. For
example, the number 43 is shown on the picture below. 43 = three ones and four
tens. Therefore, the number is represented by three beads on the first wire of the
abacus and by four beads on the second wire.

1
10
100
1, 000
10, 000
100, 000
1, 000, 000
10, 000, 000
100, 000, 000
1, 000, 000, 000

1
Plural for abacus.

2
 The numeral system currently in use by the humanity is decimal place-value. The
word decimal means that we use ten digits to make numbers. The words place-value
mean that a value of a digit in a number depends on its position in the number. For
example, the value of the digit 4 is four tens in the number 43, but it is four ones in
the number 504.

Problem 10.2 Use an abacus to make the number 504.

Problem 10.3 Make the following numbers on the abacus and show your teacher
one after another: 3, 10, 12, 47, 81, 100, 693, 963.

To understand the workings of the abacus and of the place-value decimal system,
it is very important to realize the following.

• 10 = ten ones. Therefore, one bead on the second wire is equivalent to all the ten
beads on the first wire.

• 100 = ten tens. Therefore, one bead on the third wire is equivalent to all the ten
beads on the second wire.

• 1000 = ten hundreds. Therefore, one bead on the fourth wire is equivalent to all
the ten beads on the third wire, and so forth.

As you can see the numbers 10 is fundamental for the decimal system. It is called
the system’s base.

Question 10.1 Did you know that the second meaning of the word “digit” is
“finger”?

Question 10.2 Why do you think we use ten digits in math?

Problem 10.4 If we were dinosaurs and

had three fingers on each of our front
paws, how many beads would there have
been on each wire? Why?

3
Problem 10.5 Write the numbers shown on the two abaci below under the abaci.

Problem 10.6

• What number is shown on the abacus

to the right of this text?

The number
is .
• What is a better way to show this
number on the abacus?

4
Problem 10.7 Connect an abacus on the left-hand side to the abacus showing the
same number on the right-hand side. Out of the two abaci showing the same number,
circle the one representing the number in a more efficient way.

5
Example 10.1 Let us use the abacus to solve the 43 + 59 addition problem.

The first step is to make the number

43 on the abacus.

To add 59, let us first add 9 and then

50. In other words, let us first add nine
ones, then five tens. The problem is that
we only have seven beads available on the
first wire. Let us add these seven and bear
in mind that we need to add two more.

There are three beads on the first wire.

When we add seven more, we get ten. But
ten beads on the first wire are equivalent
to one bead on the second! Please see the
two abaci below.

Replacing ten beads on an upper wire with one bead on the lower wire is called

6
carrying over. We just have used it to add seven ones to 43. The result is five beads
on the second wire. This corresponds to the number 50. Please see the right-hand
side abacus above.

Recall that we have two more ones to add because we need to add nine ones
altogether. We can do it now – all the ten beads on the upper wire are available! The
next step is to add five tens, that is five beads on the second wire. We already have
five beads on the second wire. Adding five more makes it ten. Please see the left-hand
side abacus below.

Let us carry over and replace ten beads on the second wire with one bead on the
third wire.

The end result is one bead on the third wire, zero beads on the second wire, and
two beads on the first wire.
43 + 59 = 102

7
Problem 10.8 Use the abacus to solve the following addition problems.

• 99 + 3 = • 45 + 58 =

• 126 + 78 = • 345 + 587 =

• 1967 + 51 = • 2018 + 2019 =

• 46 + 57+ • 103 + 2045+

+ 68 = + 30678 =
Example 10.2 Let us use the abacus to solve the 74 − 56 subtraction problem.

The first step is to make the number

74 on the abacus.

To subtract 56, let us first subtract 6

and then 50. In other words, let us first
take away six ones, then five tens. The
problem is that we only have four beads
available on the first wire. Let us take
away these four and bear in mind that we
need to take away two more.

Since one bead on the second wire is

equivalent to ten beads on the first wire,
let us take away one of the seven beads
on the second wire and replace it with ten
beads on the first wire. Please see the left-
hand side abacus below.
8
 The operation of replacing one bead on a lower wire by ten beads on the upper
wire is called borrowing.

Thanks to borrowing, we now have ten beads on the first wire, so we can take
away the remaining two ones. We can also take away five tens out of the remaining
six tens. Please see the right-hand side abacus below.

The end result is one bead on the second wire and eight beads on the first wire.

74 − 56 = 18

9
Problem 10.9 Use the abacus to solve the following subtraction problems.

• 11 − 3 = • 45 − 26 =

• 126 − 84 = • 126 − 87 =

• 1000 − 1 = • 1000 − 11 =

• 2019 − 51 = • 1, 000, 000, 000

−1=
Problem 10.10 Anna makes numbers on the top three wires of her abacus. Her
brother Bob copies her in a funny way. First, he puts all the beads to the left. Then,
he moves as many beads to the right as Anna moves to the left. Then, he reads off
his number the usual way.

Suppose Anna and Bob add up their numbers. What would they get?

10
Problem 10.11 Cindy wants to make the greatest possible number by moving four
beads on her abacus to the left . What is the largest number she can make?

Problem 10.12 The two abaci below show two different numbers. Which number
is greater, the one on the left or the one on the right? Please circle the correct answer.

left right
Problem 10.13 Insert three signs, + and −, between the digits below to make a
correct statement.

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 = 100
11
Homework
Finish solving all the problems unfinished in class.

Problem 10.14 Use the abacus to solve the following addition problems.

• 89 + 53 = • 65 + 56 =

• 174 + 851 = • 999 + 888 =

• 3972 + 6877 = • 10995 + 9366 =

• 467 + 578+ • 1033 + 6545+

+689 = +30878 =
Problem 10.15 Donna wants to make the greatest possible number by moving twelve
beads on her abacus to the left. What is the largest number she can make?

Problem 10.16 Playing with her abacus, Emily uses the top two wires only. She
moves two beads to the left to make the first number. Then the girl subtracts a one-
digit number. The result requires three beads to make. Write down all the subtraction
problems Emily could make.

12
Problem 10.17 Use the abacus to solve the following subtraction problems.

• 21 − 7 = • 105 − 26 =

• 926 − 284 = • 1325 − 487 =

• 10000 − 10 = • 11000 − 11 =

• 2715 − 357 = • 1, 000, 000, 000

− 111 =
Problem 10.18 On planet Octonia, the number of beads on each wire of the abacus
is eight. How many fingers do the inhabitants of this planet have?

13