Evening Republican, Volume 14, Number 142, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 15 June 1910 — JAP QUICK AT FIGURES. [ARTICLE]

JAP QUICK AT FIGURES.

L'ain* *n Abacns, He Beat Bank Clerk with Addins Machine. At a meeting of the Tacoma chapter of the American Institute of Bank Clerks the other night a Japanese (Clerk, using a “saroban," “put it all over" a Tacoma bank clerk using a modern adding machine In casting up a long column of figures, according to the Ledger of that city. The Japanese, with his “saroban,’ did the arithmetical “stunt” in thirty seconds, while the bank clerk, with his modern adding machine, took fiftyfour seconds to obtain a total and afterward it was found the clerk or the modern adding machine had made an error, while the Japanese with his little abacus or “saroban” obtained the correct result the first time, in another test the Japanese might make an error, as did the bank clerk. However, it is significant that the Japanese did not err and that he obtained a correct result far more quickly, though he used an ancient arithmetical device. The Japanese that won the coiftest

in adding was once a clerk In a bank! at Osaka, Japan. He disclaims being' an expert in adding and says many Japanese are much faster on the "saroban” than he. The little old-fashioned adding machine used by the Japanese Is what we call an abacus. Years ago In our public school rooms the abacus used to hang on the wall and it was sometimes used In the study of arithmetic. It is not used much nowadays, though it would appear from the speed and accuracy of the Japanese that It Anight be employed with good results. The abacus In use In China Is known as the swan pan. The Chinese are also rapid calculators. The abacus is a very simple device when compared with the modern adding machine. It Is probable that It requiuts more practice and more arithmetical ability to get correct results from an Abacus than are required with the modern adding machine. The abacus is very ancient. It was used by the Egyptians and Greeks in a form similar to that now used in Japan, China, Arabia and Russia. The word is traced through the Greek to a word meaning ‘‘dust.’’ It is said that dust was spread upon a board and that numerals were inscribed in the dust. In early times the Greeks used such a board, and it is supposed that geonietry as well as arithmetic was taught with the use of that kind of an aba cue. Later an abacus was developed In which beads slid on wire or- in grooves, the heads having a value depending upon column. This was probably like the abacus now used in Japan and China. The word “calculate” Is traced to a Greek word meaning pebble. It Is supposed that pebbles were used In the early abacus. The victory of the Tacoma Japanese with his “saroban” over one of our bank clerks with a modern adding machine Is not an exceptional instance. A few months ago, when the Japanese commercial commissioners visited the United States, a contest was held in which a Japanese came out ahead in a calculation contest in which he used an abacus.