How to use the abacus, Add, Subtract, Multiply, Divide /GTflix?

The abacus is like a tiny calculator you can hold in your hands and move around to do math, it's fun, fast, and super easy once you get the hang of it!

Imagine you have 10 jelly beans. If you want to add more, you put them into rows on the abacus just like you'd pile them up in a bowl. Each row is like a group of jelly beans, one bean makes 1, two make 2, and so on.

Adding and Subtracting

Think of the abacus as your toy box. When you add, it’s like getting more toys, you move beads from one side to the other. If you have 5 toys and get 3 more, you count them all together: 5 + 3 = 8.

When you subtract, it's like giving away toys. If you had 7 toys and gave away 2, you just take those 2 beads out, now you're left with 7 - 2 = 5!

Multiplying and Dividing

Multiplying is like having more toy boxes, if you have 3 boxes with 4 toys each, that’s 3 × 4 = 12. You can count the beads in groups to make it easier.

Dividing is like sharing your jelly beans equally, if you have 12 jelly beans and want to split them into 3 equal piles, you give out 4 jelly beans per pile, so 12 ÷ 3 = 4.

You're not just doing math, you're playing with beads!

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Examples

  1. A child learns to add 12 + 34 using the abacus by moving beads.
  2. Someone subtracts 6 from 18 by removing beads on the abacus.
  3. A beginner multiplies 7 × 4 using repeated addition with an abacus.

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