When was abacus found?

Answer 1

Maybe 9000 or so years ago some guy was taking a walk and tripped over something, when he picked it up he said: "Oh my I just found an abacus! I have no idea if it is useful for anything or not, as I have never seen one before. The beads are not even pretty, just plain wood." He then threw it away and rubbed his sore toe until it felt better and continued his walk.

The above is of course nonsense as mechanisms like the abacus are not found, they are invented or designed. While it is hard to verify as documents don't go back as far as the first abacus (it was already present and used in many cultures before writing or even oral history developed), one could likely say the time given above (9000 years ago) to be a reasonable estimate of when they first were used.

Answer 2

The abacus was invented about 4,400 years ago in Sumeria (Mesopotamia) and was adopted by a number of civilizations over the following 1,000 - 2,000 years as the primary method of performing simple (and sometimes complex) calculations.

It is in fact still in use today in some parts of the world where store keepers can calculate a long list of numbers faster than they would be able to punch them into a calculator!

The abacus is still a familiar children's play toy, and is used also in education to explain mathematical principals to children.

Answer 3

Japan did not invent the abacus, they imported the idea of the Chinese counting tray (which was developed around 200 BCE). They only started making wide use of the countring tray in about 1600 ACE (almost a full 800 years after the Chinese).

Answer 4

Roughly 9000 years ago when some guy out for a walk tripped over one and said "Ouch, I just discovered the abacus! Too bad I don't know what an abacus is or if it even has a use. It doesn't even look pretty. The beads are just plain wood so no use taking it apart for them as my girl wouldn't like them." He then threw it over his shoulder, rubbed his sore toe until it felt better and resumed his walk.

Of course the above story is all nonsense as mechanisms like the abacus are invented or designed, not discovered. However the date of 9000 years ago for the first one being made is not unreasonable, as most early cultures that used the abacus developed it long before developing writing or even oral history. Therefor we have no record of its invention.