Uh Oh, MATH!
Where's my pocket calculator.
Way further digression! When I was finishing College, 'pocket calculators' had not yet been invented, let alone manufactured or affordably available, and although 'electric' calculators were 'available,' 'electronic' ones were still not widely available or in use. At the time, there was nothing generally 'portable', let alone able to 'fit' in a 'pocket.'
I was taking an accounting class to finish some 'general' requirements for graduation and could never add a large, or long column of numbers twice and readily come up with the same result, so I learned to use a "soroban." I had used a "slide rule" to some extent in High School for some of the 'math' I had taken, but it wasn't useful for what should have been 'simple' addition.
!. What is a soroban?
2. Where was it invented?
and for extra credit,
3. How does it differ from a "Chinese 'Suan Pan'?
I remember that at the time, a skilled practioner of the 'soroban', which I never became, could actually out perform many of the available electric calculators of the time. The soroban I used actually fit in my shirt pocket easily and I still have it and occasionally get it out and play with it, usually after my eyes won't focus very well from staring at a computer monitor for too long a period of time!
Regards,
