Beadbay: the soroban
Mental arithmetic practice with the soroban
Soroban mental arithmetic, called anzan, is doing the sum on a soroban you picture in your head. You learn it in steps: first on real beads, then watching where they sit, then with the beads gone, moving them in your mind.
Practise now
Numbers flash one at a time. Add them in your head and type the total.
From beads to pictures
Mental arithmetic on the soroban is seeing the beads in your head. First do the sum on the beads. Watch how they sit.
The beads are gone. Move them in your mind, with your fingers if it helps, and type the answer.
A way to practise
A little every day beats a lot once a week.
- Do five easy sums on the beads, watching the beads rather than the numbers.
- Do the same kind of sum with your eyes closed, moving your fingers as if the beads were there.
- Check each answer on the beads.
- When that is steady, add a row to the sums or move to the next kind.
In Beadbay
The app has a lesson for this, practice where the beads can be solid, outlines or hidden, Flash sums, read-aloud sums where a voice reads the numbers, and a daily ten: ten sums from the date, the same for everyone.
Questions
What does anzan mean?
It is the Japanese word for mental calculation. With the soroban it means calculating on an imagined soroban.
How long does it take to learn?
It differs a great deal from person to person. Small sums with one-digit numbers come first; longer and faster sums follow with regular practice.