[BlindTlk] Lessons or classes

[Jude DaShiell]

I still use abacuses and can tell you they're a limiter.  They're good for
basic math but you'll need other skills to survive Algebra and Calculus.
As a result of me using an abacus in Overbrook School For The Blind I
wasn't taught long division on paper and I wasn't taught what's called
Russian Multiplication which is done on paper and handles stuff beyond the
multiplication tables.  For braille users a table of logarithms can help
with the large numbers.  You add the logarithms in the table for the
numbers being multiplied then find the sum of that addition in the
logarithms table.  The addition you can do with an abacus and you don't
need two of them doing that. A large use I have for abacuses these days is
doing numerology but even doing that when lots of results will be
calculated I need to write them on braille paper before analyzing them. A
core to learning the abacus is learning the secrets of the abacus for
digits.  As an example you want to add 9 to 7.  The abacus won't let you
do that in a single column.  But you can add 10 to 7 and get 17.  But 10
isn't 16 so subtract 1 from the 7 and you got your correct answer.  Same
deal with all other digits.  There's supposed to be a way to figure days
of the week for any date on an abacus and a way to figure square roots but
I never got that far in my abacus education.  In numerology you calculate
several numbers in what in Math are called arrays.  So long as you can
mentally understand the structure of your array on an abacus this is
possible.  An abacus won't help in statistics either.  Best to learn to do
calculations on paper and use a calculator.  Why you learn to do paper
calculations is so you can desk check your calculator and/or computer
results to make sure those are correct.

On Tue, 22 Jun 2021, Tom Cramer via BlindTlk wrote:

> Hi,
> When I was a kid, I was given not one but two abacuses because I was
> told it would be good for me to learn to use them for math and in
> every day life involving numbers. I never did learn, and when I later
> asked questions about it, I was told not to worry about it because of
> calculators and Braille.
> I recently found them in my stuff, and I wonder if I can and should
> still learn to use them. I'm taking some college classes, including
> basic Math classes, and I thought maybe they would be helpful.
> Are there books or classes I can take that will take me through more
> than just very basic use?
> Do blind people still use an abacus, and am I weird for wanting to
> learn it to help me in class?
> TOm
>
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