Addition

Steps of Addition

1. Input your first number

Say you've got to add 1234 and 5678. Enter 1234 on the abacus by pushing up four beads in the ones place, three in the tens place, two in the hundreds place, and one in the thousands place.

2. Start adding from the left

The first numbers you'll add are the 1 and the 5 from the thousands place, in this case moving the single bead from the top row of that column down to add the 5, and leaving the lower bead up for a total of 6. Likewise, to add 6 in the hundreds place, move the top bead in the hundreds place down and one bead from the bottom row up to get a total of 8.

3. Complete an exchange

Since adding the two numbers in the tens place will result in 10, you'll carry over a 1 to the hundred place, making it a 9 in that column. Next, put all the beads down in the tens place, leaving it zero.

• In the ones column, you'll do essentially the same thing. Eight plus 4 equals 12, so you'll carry the one over to the tens place, making it 1. This leaves you with 2 in the ones place.

4. Count your beads to get the answer

You're left with a 6 in the thousands column, a 9 in the hundreds, a 1 in the tens, and a 2 in the ones: 1,234 + 5,678 = 6,912.