Click on a abacus below to run Java
Abacus (mostly by David Bagley (help in initial conversion to Java by
Sarat Chandran)). Icons below are all zeroed and should give a rough
idea on what to expect.
| Static Configurations | Link |
|---|---|
| Chinese Abacus (Saun-pan) |
 |
| Korean Abacus (Supan, AKA Japanese Soroban pre-WWII) |
 |
| Japanese Abacus (Soroban post-WWII) |
 |
| Roman Hand Abacus right most column twelfths and Ancient Roman Numerals in display |
 |
| Roman Hand Abacus right most column eigths and Modern Roman Numerals on abacus |
|
| Russian Abacus (Schoty) |
 |
| Old Russian Abacus (Schoty w/ 1/4 Kopek) |
 |
| Georgian Abacus (Russian base 20, warmer climate, do not take seriously) |
|
| Danish School Abacus |  |
| Mesoamerican Abacus (Nepohualtzintzin, similar to Japanese base 20) |
 |
| Babylonian Watch (proposed by author) |
 |
| Chinese Solid-And-Broken-Bar System (base 12) |
 |
| Base 16 Abacus (Japanese base 16) |
 |
| Lee's Abacus Principal Chinese with a Noneven Distributed 7 Rail Auxiliary |
 |
| Lee's Abacus Principal Korean with a Noneven Distributed 7 Rail Auxiliary |
 |
| Lee's Abacus Principal Chinese with a Even Distributed 9 Rail Auxiliary |
 |
The simplist configurations are the
above static versions. The menu interface control has been taken out
(except for some non-base 10 examples). This control feature is
available in the versions below. The control interface lets you
change formats easily. However, the static versions can be
modified by clicking on the abacus itself, then, for example, "i"
and "d" will increase and decrease the number of rails and "f"
will change formats.
If you do not know how to use, check out
the "demo" mode, where some lessons are given. Another approach is
the 
"teach" mode. Given a simple
calculation like "A+B" or "A-B" (where A>0 and A>=B for subtraction)
it will give you step by step moves on what are the proper moves on the
abacus. According to the books below, you are supposed to start on left
side, when adding or subtracting multi-digit numbers. (There is an
option "rightToLeft", if you think this is inefficient).
Another feature is the "complement"
function to help handle negatives in future. Other options are available,
see the X manual documentation link below.
"teach" mode. Given a simple
calculation like "A+B" or "A-B" (where A>0 and A>=B for subtraction)
it will give you step by step moves on what are the proper moves on the
abacus. According to the books below, you are supposed to start on left
side, when adding or subtracting multi-digit numbers. (There is an
option "rightToLeft", if you think this is inefficient).
Another feature is the "complement"
function to help handle negatives in future. Other options are available,
see the X manual documentation link below.
The scalable version below includes
some JavaScript for resizing, which may be browser dependent.
Choose picks the static or scales depending on browser settings.
| Configurations (+ menu interface) | Static | Scales | Choose |
|---|---|---|---|
| Chinese Abacus (also available Korean, Japanese, Roman, Russian, Danish) |
|
|
|
| Lee's Abacus Principal Chinese with a Noneven Distributed 7 Rail Auxiliary |
|
|
|
| Lee's Abacus Principal Korean with a Noneven Distributed 7 Rail Auxiliary |
|
|
|
| Lee's Abacus Principal Chinese with a Even Distributed 9 Rail Auxiliary |
|
|
|
The X Manual Page is written for the X version but may be useful
to understanding the Java program. You can download the jar file
(preserve the .jar extension), and then it can be run as an
application like "java -jar AbacusApp.jar -rails=15" or
"java -jar AbacusApp.jar -lee=1 -leftAuxRails=9 -rightAuxRails=9".
| Source Code | X Manual Page | Javadoc | Jar File |
|---|---|---|---|
| abacus.zip | xabacus | AbacusApplet | AbacusApp.jar |
See project notes for todo list and history.
Please let me know if I left
out anything.
