Any Japanese, Chinese Or Koreans That Used Abacus As Kids

[Nepal4me]

The Abacus or what is called Soroban in Japan, Tschu Pan in Korea or Suan Pan in China has been used for many hundreds of years and still is used quite a
lot in Asia.

The reason for my question is a Japanese guy that I met told me that he trained with an Abacus as a kid. He did 15 minutes per day from 5 years of age
until he was 10. He can still do mental mathematics that would boggle the mind. He claims and I did talk to another Japanese person that basically
corroborated this, that having your mind trained by doing Abacus makes a huge life long change in your ability to calculate not only numbers but across many disciplines.

There are a bunch of schools here in Bangkok that have Abacus programs and they are about 3 years in length. They only take kids, if you are 15 years old, they won’t take you, you are too old, your brain has lost its ability to gain the benefits that Abacus brings.

The claim is that being able to multiply 2397 x 4791 in your head in 7 seconds isn’t just a neat party trick, it’s a fundamental extra mental ability/edge that non Abacus trained people don’t have.

I wonder if there are other people on TV that have experiences with Abacus themselves or have kids that have been trained in it.

[stoneyboy]

I was trained on the Casio

Never let me down yet.

[CobraSnakeNecktie]

Do you plan to take these mental math skills to Las Vegas or Macau?

It's interesting training.

Have you ever tried biofeedback like the eMwave? They now have it for IOS (iphone,Ipad....)

http://www.heartmathstore.com/item/6400/inner-balance

Any brain training tools to recommend?

[Nepal4me]

Do you plan to take these mental math skills to Las Vegas or Macau?

Abacus is for kids, doesn't work on adult. They're too stupid already. It's not for me, it's for my kids.

[barefoot1988]

yea, abacus is part of the syllabus in singapore or at least during my time, was a 3 year one, from 9 to 12 though. if anyone been to tradition chinese medicine shops, they usually still use abacus

eventually you would just have a mental abacus, similarly to the mental division/multiply table. anyone who understand the fundamentals enough would be able to multiple large figures, but under 7 secs would be a different ball of game though

apparently it is suppose to stimulate the right brain, perhaps thats what old learners would lose out

[krisb]

There's a maths genius that sells what looks like an amazing product called brainetics. Kids doing huge maths sums in their heads in seconds outdoing any abacus I'd say. Its on YouTube if you want to check it out. I'd put a link on but can't from my phone.

[Nepal4me]

yea, abacus is part of the syllabus in singapore or at least during my time, was a 3 year one, from 9 to 12 though. if anyone been to tradition chinese medicine shops, they usually still use abacus

eventually you would just have a mental abacus, similarly to the mental division/multiply table. anyone who understand the fundamentals enough would be able to multiple large figures, but under 7 secs would be a different ball of game though

apparently it is suppose to stimulate the right brain, perhaps thats what old learners would lose out

Did you really learn Abacus? Have any benefits carried over to your adult life?

There's a maths genius that sells what looks like an amazing product called brainetics. Kids doing huge maths sums in their heads in seconds outdoing any abacus I'd say. Its on YouTube if you want to check it out. I'd put a link on but can't from my phone.

Thanks for the suggestion on Brainetics. I did check it out and it appears to be similar to Vendic math, that is popular in India. It is using tricks or shortcuts to allow you to mentally calculate numbers. It does seem like something that should be taught in schools, understanding the concepts is important but if there are quck ways to figure things out, they should be used too.

Still the Abacus seems to be a different animal, it uses your fingers and right brain at the same time, actually I guess Brainetics would also use the right side of your brain. I saw his methodology and it does involve visualizing grids to get the numbers lined up so you can easily add them together. But really it's just Vendic math, that is if I understood it correctly.

[FunFon]

All the little shops around my neighborhood use these rather than calculators, much faster than the Tesco checkouts.

Nepal4me - post details on the tutoring shops? I assume they don't have English-language classes. . .

[Nepal4me]

All the little shops around my neighborhood use these rather than calculators, much faster than the Tesco checkouts.

Nepal4me - post details on the tutoring shops? I assume they don't have English-language classes. . .

In Bangkok, there is a franchise called "Smart Brain" and they have 20 or 30 schools/branches. Some of them teach in English but I suspect most of them would be in Thai language. You'd have to email the main office to see where English would be the language of instruction.

I have just read a bunch of articles via our friend Google, they suggest Abacus developes more pathways/connections in your brain. Studying over a 3 year period 'build' the brain just as studying the violin or piano over a long period of time would. Builds the brain in a physical way too, it thickens an area of the brain that is firing when making these Abacus-like calculations.

I still don't have enough real life comments from Asians that actually have done this so I'm not fully convinced that it works.

[FunFon]

In Bangkok, there is a franchise called "Smart Brain" and they have 20 or 30 schools/branches. Some of them teach in English but I suspect most of them would be in Thai language. You'd have to email the main office to see where English would be the language of instruction.

Thanks for the lead.

I have just read a bunch of articles via our friend Google, they suggest Abacus developes more pathways/connections in your brain. Studying over a 3 year period 'build' the brain just as studying the violin or piano over a long period of time would. Builds the brain in a physical way too, it thickens an area of the brain that is firing when making these Abacus-like calculations.

I still don't have enough real life comments from Asians that actually have done this so I'm not fully convinced that it works.

-

Actually this is bog-standard proven neuroscience now, any such mental activity complex enough to require long practice will physically re-structure the brain, especially - but not only - in the early development stages.

The current imaging technology has really grown by leaps and bounds in the past few years, but of course our current understanding will seem very primitive in ten years.

Even if the activity being learned isn't itself very valuable, IMO the habits and learning experience of mastering a difficult skill, whether sport, music art dance computer programming whatever is very very beneficial to the non-cognitive development of personality/character traits that will help with future success.

And it's never too late to start, whoever said adults are stupid shame on you, everyone is capable of increasing any of the various forms of intelligence starting at any point in life.

And diligent effort is required to at least maintain them so as to live a long and productive life.

Use it or lose it. . .

[Nepal4me]

Actually this is bog-standard proven neuroscience now, any such mental activity complex enough to require long practice will physically re-structure the brain, especially - but not only - in the early development stages.

The current imaging technology has really grown by leaps and bounds in the past few years, but of course our current understanding will seem very primitive in ten years.

Even if the activity being learned isn't itself very valuable, IMO the habits and learning experience of mastering a difficult skill, whether sport, music art dance computer programming whatever is very very beneficial to the non-cognitive development of personality/character traits that will help with future success.

And it's never too late to start, whoever said adults are stupid shame on you, everyone is capable of increasing any of the various forms of intelligence starting at any point in life.

And diligent effort is required to at least maintain them so as to live a long and productive life.

Use it or lose it. . .

I have also just read something that agrees with exactly what you are saying. It is about multilingualism. Learning 2 languages, especially natively from birth restructures the brain as you say. More connections, more brain processing power.

Also it was me making the 'stupid' comment about adults, it was tongue in cheek comment, not meant to be taken seriously. Although it does apply to me.

[FunFon]

A relevant link, but in this case with wider ramifications than mere intellectual development.

[barefoot1988]

Did you really learn Abacus? Have any benefits carried over to your adult life?

yea,its just a 3 year long course during the last 3 year of my primary school days. i not entirely sure about the benefits, but from what i know, it is supposed to stimulate the left and right brain, helping the students to think "out of box"

[Nepal4me]

Did you really learn Abacus? Have any benefits carried over to your adult life?

yea,its just a 3 year long course during the last 3 year of my primary school days. i not entirely sure about the benefits, but from what i know, it is supposed to stimulate the left and right brain, helping the students to think "out of box"

So, when you were 9 years old, could you multiply 4589 x 2984 (for example) in your head? If so, can you still do it?

[Potosi]

We had an instruction on the Abacus in school, but I forgot all about it. Then we used these things for several years.

Excellent tool, beats a pocker calculator with ease. Out of fashion only after the rise of the PC.

[barefoot1988]

Did you really learn Abacus? Have any benefits carried over to your adult life?

yea,its just a 3 year long course during the last 3 year of my primary school days. i not entirely sure about the benefits, but from what i know, it is supposed to stimulate the left and right brain, helping the students to think "out of box"

So, when you were 9 years old, could you multiply 4589 x 2984 (for example) in your head? If so, can you still do it?

no, i dont think i could do that when i just started out. i can do it now though. abacus is just another similar multiple and division table except easier and broader. the difference on the mental calculation by abacus method is that it is being done more by imaginary movement of abacus beads in your head, you rely on the imaginary movement of beads to find the figure unlike tradition multiple division methods where we rely on mathematics and memory. im nt sure if you could grasp the concept, try looking into how calculation are being done on the abacus

[Nepal4me]

Did you really learn Abacus? Have any benefits carried over to your adult life?

yea,its just a 3 year long course during the last 3 year of my primary school days. i not entirely sure about the benefits, but from what i know, it is supposed to stimulate the left and right brain, helping the students to think "out of box"

So, when you were 9 years old, could you multiply 4589 x 2984 (for example) in your head? If so, can you still do it?

no, i dont think i could do that when i just started out. i can do it now though. abacus is just another similar multiple and division table except easier and broader. the difference on the mental calculation by abacus method is that it is being done more by imaginary movement of abacus beads in your head, you rely on the imaginary movement of beads to find the figure unlike tradition multiple division methods where we rely on mathematics and memory. im nt sure if you could grasp the concept, try looking into how calculation are being done on the abacus

I have just done some youtube searching and saw exactly what you are saying, I also read a few articles on using an Abacus so I do quite understand the concept.

Since your name is barefoot 1988, I'm guessing that's your birth year, which then makes you 25 now (did that without an Abacus). It's pretty impressive that you can still do that after all these years.

Actually I meant when you were 12, not when you were 9. Obviously you couldn't do that when you just started.

So would you put your kids into an abacus school?

Do you think it effectively taught you to think out of the box, as you suggested it was supposed to?

[barefoot1988]

I have just done some youtube searching and saw exactly what you are saying, I also read a few articles on using an Abacus so I do quite understand the concept.

Since your name is barefoot 1988, I'm guessing that's your birth year, which then makes you 25 now (did that without an Abacus). It's pretty impressive that you can still do that after all these years.

Actually I meant when you were 12, not when you were 9. Obviously you couldn't do that when you just started.

So would you put your kids into an abacus school?

Do you think it effectively taught you to think out of the box, as you suggested it was supposed to?

its barely 15 years man, once you grap the concept it would really just stay. the mental thing would come naturally when enough practice is being done. its like flipping the beads over and over then you would get lazy and just do it mentally in smaller digits, then larger digits.

to be honest, i think it did stimulate the other side of our brain and probably helped in creativity and the "out of box" factors in a child. but perhaps due to the stricter of the later education in singapore, im still struck in the box.

whether to put my child in a abacus school would really depends on the individual. im an avid book reader and had came across afew good books on the right hemisphere. abacus isnt really all fun, and there are alot of other activities that are far more enjoyable and could achieve similar stimulation of the right brain. for instant piano. coordination of rhythm and lead on different hands isnt easy, at times both are at complete different tempo, add in the pedal coordination and a vocal singing, it requires intensive coordination that showcase a classic example of why young childrens always pick up piano so much faster than a frustrated adult