soroban
soroban — noun
1. a traditional Japanese calculating tool made of beads that slide on rods inside
a traditional Japanese calculating tool made of beads that slide on rods inside a rectangular frame, used for adding, subtracting, multiplying and dividing numbers by moving the beads up and down with the fingers.
Yuki learned to add three-digit sums on a soroban after two weeks of daily practice.
collocation: on a soroban
The elderly shopkeeper reached for his soroban to calculate the total bill for the customer.
use: reach for + soroban
In some Japanese schools, children still learn to use the soroban in their mathematics classes.
A soroban has one bead above the beam and four beads below in every column.
Omar watched the accountant solve sums faster with a soroban than on a calculator.
- abacus
the general term for any bead‑frame counting tool; soroban is the specific Japanese version
- suan pan
the Chinese abacus from which the soroban was adapted; it has a different bead layout (5+2 or 5+1 instead of 4+1)
- counting frame
a simpler educational tool with beads on wires; less structured than a soroban
文法句型
soroban + verb (singular)
用法筆記
The soroban is optimised for base‑10 arithmetic and gives faster results when the user masters a standard finger‑movement technique. Although less common than digital calculators, it is still taught in some Japanese primary schools and used in certain shops and offices.