reflections
BY SELINA TAN PHOTO JOHN SMITH/CORBISOn Asia’s Count
more than arithmetic
The Chinese abacus (suan pan)
was first described in 190 AD in a book
called Supplementary Notes on the
Art of Figures, by mathematician Xu
Yue. In 300 AD, the Chinese began
development of the abacus as a
mathematical device for merchants.
China’s trade relations with Rome
enabled the spread of the idea to
Europe, where the abacus began to be
used around 500 AD.The most sophisticated form of the
abacus currently known, developed
between the late Song dynasty (960–
1279) and the early Yuan dynasty (1280–
1368), features a wooden frame with 13
vertical wires, each holding seven beads.
During the Ming dynasty (1368–1644),
abacuses advanced to handle more
complex mathematic operations, and
their popularity spread to many other
countries around the world.[ china ]
The suan pan: One of
Asia’s most significant
contributions to the worldAn early form of the abacus, used
to keep track of larger sums, was built
circa 3000 BC using beads strung
on wires. In the Spring and Autumn
period (770–476 BC), chips of different
sizes representing different values
were widely used by the visually
impaired to count – they were placed
in lines and columns to perform
arithmetic calculations.