[BlindTlk] [BlTlk] Lessons or classes

[sonshines59]

Hi, Erricka and Tom,

The abacus came into wide use when I was out of school, but I met people who used them quite efficiently. I also knew of a blind CPA who used thre of them when doing people's income tax.

There is also braille instruction manuals for mastering the abacus. The people I saw using them, the fingers would fly and were very rapid with them.

When they were in wide use, the first talking calculator came out, Speech Plus. My folks got me one for Christmas, and I couldn't believe how quickly I could calculate classroom averages for my quarterly log as a teacher.




judy
"Embrace each day with His mercies and blessings."
Sent From The HIMS U2 Mini

----- Original Message -----
From: Jude DaShiell via BlTlk  <blindtlk at nfbnet.org>
To:  blindtlk at nfbnet.org
CC: jdashiel at panix.com
Date: Wednesday, June 23, 2021 2:37 am
Subject: Re: [BlTlk] Lessons or classes

>
>
> 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 BlTlk 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
>
> _______________________________________________
> BlTlk mailing list
> BlindTlk at nfbnet.org
> http://nfbnet.org/mailman/listinfo/blindtlk_nfbnet.org
> To unsubscribe, change your list options or get your account info for BlTlk:
> http://nfbnet.org/mailman/options/blindtlk_nfbnet.org/jdashiel%40panix.com
>

> _______________________________________________
> BlTlk mailing list
> BlindTlk at nfbnet.org
> http://nfbnet.org/mailman/listinfo/blindtlk_nfbnet.org
> To unsubscribe, change your list options or get your account info for BlTlk:
> http://nfbnet.org/mailman/options/blindtlk_nfbnet.org/sonshines59%40gmail.com
>