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Step 1
It is basically a small instrument with rows and columns of beads that represent numbers. It basically has a wooden frame that is divided into two horizontal sections. The upper section has two beads in each column and the lower has five. These beads are movable. The beads in the upper section are called alto beads and the ones in the lower section are called hypobeads. Five hypobeads are the same as one altobead.
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Step 2
An abacus can have any number of columns. You need to go back to your primary math where you learnt the units place, tens place etc. Similarly the right most column of an abacus represents the units column. The one on its left is the tens column and so on. As you move towards the left the values of the place increases ten fold.
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Step 3
To start you need to put the abacus in neutral mode. Simply place the alto beads such that they touch the upper frame and stack the hypo beads at the bottom.
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Step 4
We will start with an integer. What do you do when you want to represent 12 on the abacus?
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Step 5
The units place has a value of two. So you pull up two beads from the right most columns to touch the horizontal divide. The column to its left represents the tens position and we have one in the tens place so we pull one bead up in the second column to touch the horizontal divide. Now we have 12 on the abacus.
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Step 6
Now say we want to add 22 to 12 how do we do it? Normally when you add you move from the units position to the tens and so on. In abacus you move from the left most columns on to the next one.
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Step 7
So if you want to add 22 you will raise two hypobeads in the second column from left to join the one you had raised earlier. Then you will add two hypobeads in the first column from right. Now you can read the integer as 34.
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Step 8
These are the first steps to using an abacus.
