Suanpan
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The suanpan, also spelled suan pan or souanpan is an abacus of Chinese origin. The earliest known written documentation of the Chinese abacus dates to the 2nd century BCE during the Han dynasty, and i
Chinese Abacus
A modern 4+1 suanpan (soroban) with a clear-all button
Suanpan on the apothecary's counter in Along the River During the Qingming Festival painting
Soroban
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The soroban is an abacus developed in Japan. It is derived from the ancient Chinese suanpan, imported to Japan in the 14th century. Like the suanpan, the soroban is still used today, despite the proli
A modern soroban. The right side of the soroban represents the number 1234567890, each column indicating one digit, with the lower beads representing "ones" and the upper beads "fives".
A suanpan (top) and a soroban (bottom). The two abaci seen here are of standard size and have thirteen rods each.
A dual soroban-calculator, Sharp Elsi Mate EL-8048 Sorokaru, produced from 1979
An abacus that uses colored sliders instead of beads. Red represents the value 5; green represents the value 1. The value in the abacus is 4025.