Just the basics
The soroban is a tool that has been around for hundreds of years. It is used to perform math operations including addition, subtraction, multiplication and division.
The soroban features a series of vertical rods. My soroban has three rods where the rod on the right is the Ones rod, the rod in the middle is the Tens rod, and the rod on the left is the Hundreds rod. Rods are split into an upper and lower part by a horizontal bar.
Each rod has five beads: the four lower beads each represent one and the upper bead represents five. These beads can be moved into various combinations to represent numbers.
Displaying 0 and 1
Move all the upper beads up and all the lower beads down to clear the soroban and display 0. To display 1, move one lower bead up on the Ones rod.
0
1
Displaying 4 and 5
Move up all lower beads on the Ones rod to display 4. To display 5, move down the upper bead on the Ones rod then move down all lower beads.
4
5
Displaying 9 and 10
With the upper bead still touching the horizontal bar, move up all lower beads on the Ones rod to display 9. To display 10, first reset the Ones rod to zero by moving up the upper bead and moving down all lower beads. Next, move up one lower bead on the Tens rod.
9
10
Displaying 100 and 999
Move down the lower bead on the Tens rod then move up one bead on the Hundreds rod to display 100. To display 999, start by moving down the upper bead on the Hundreds rod then moving up all beads on the same rod. The display is now 900. Next, on the Tens rod, move down the upper bead and move up all lower beads to display 990. Finally, on the Ones rod, move down the upper bead and move up all lower beads to display 999.
100
999
Decomposition
After displaying and recognizing numbers you need to understand how to break down numbers into smaller parts.
Addition and subtraction
With a good grasp of soroban basics you can use it to perform math operations including addition and subtraction. Each operation involves a series of clearly defined steps.
Learn how to count
Now extend your knowledge by trying the first of my three apps. This shows what happens when you increase or decrease the soroban by one. As you have seen above, sometimes these changes are minimal, but other times these changes affect both upper and lower beads as well as adjacent rods.