Soroban

[1][nb 1] Like the suanpan, the soroban is still used today, despite the proliferation of practical and affordable pocket electronic calculators.

Unit rods to the left of the designated one also aid in place value by denoting the groups in the number (such as thousands, millions, etc.).

The soroban uses a bi-quinary coded decimal system, where each of the rods can represent a single digit from 0 to 9.

The Japanese abacus has been taught in school for over 500 years, deeply rooted in the value of learning the fundamentals as a form of art.

[3] However, the introduction of the West during the Meiji period and then again after World War II has gradually altered the Japanese education system.

Now, the strive is for speed and turning out deliverables rather than understanding the subtle intricacies of the concepts behind the product.

Where once it was an institutionally required subject in school for children grades 2 to 6, current laws have made keeping this art form and perspective on math practiced amongst the younger generations more lenient.

[4] Today, it shifted from a given to a game where one can take The Japanese Chamber of Commerce and Industry's examination in order to obtain a certificate and license.

Students are asked to solve problems mentally by visualizing the soroban and working out the solution by moving the beads theoretically in one's mind.

The mastery of anzan is one reason why, despite the access to handheld calculators, some parents still send their children to private tutors to learn the soroban.

Most historians on the soroban agree that it has its roots on the suanpan's importation to Japan via the Korean peninsula around the 14th century.

The division table used along with the suanpan was more popular because of the original hexadecimal configuration of Japanese currency [citation needed].

On November 11, 1946, a contest was held in Tokyo between the Japanese soroban, used by Kiyoshi Matsuzaki, and an electric calculator, operated by US Army Private Thomas Nathan Wood.

The basis for scoring in the contest was speed and accuracy of results in all four basic arithmetic operations and a problem which combines all four.