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Reckoning Board
The reckoning board, also called a memory board or hole board, could be used on its own as a basic counting device or used with an abacus for engineering. There were two types of reckoning board. The older type was a simple 10 × 10 grid of holes. A peg would be inserted into a hole and moved along, starting from the top and working downwards. It was used as a memory aid when counting certain units. For every sack of grain or bar of steel, the peg would be moved forward and after a day or a week, the total number counted could be seen. The more advanced type had columns of holes, with the columns indicating place value. See also * Cribbage board *Sand table A sand table uses constrained sand for modelling or educational purposes. The original version of a sand table may be the abax used by early Greek students. In the modern era, one common use for a sand table is to make terrain models for milit ... References * Alex Grandell, "The Accounting Historians Journal ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Abacus
The abacus (''plural'' abaci or abacuses), also called a counting frame, is a calculating tool which has been used since ancient times. It was used in the ancient Near East, Europe, China, and Russia, centuries before the adoption of the Hindu-Arabic numeral system. The exact origin of the abacus has not yet emerged. It consists of rows of movable beads, or similar objects, strung on a wire. They represent digits. One of the two numbers is set up, and the beads are manipulated to perform an operation such as addition, or even a square or cubic root. In their earliest designs, the rows of beads could be loose on a flat surface or sliding in grooves. Later the beads were made to slide on rods and built into a frame, allowing faster manipulation. Abacuses are still made, often as a bamboo frame with beads sliding on wires. In the ancient world, particularly before the introduction of positional notation, abacuses were a practical calculating tool. The abacus is still used to ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Cribbage
Cribbage, or crib, is a card game, traditionally for two players, that involves playing and grouping cards in combinations which gain points. It can be adapted for three or four players. Cribbage has several distinctive features: the cribbage board used for score-keeping, the eponymous ''crib'', ''box'', or ''kitty'' (in parts of Canada)—a separate hand counting for the dealer—two distinct scoring stages (the play and the show) and a unique scoring system including points for groups of cards that total fifteen. It has been characterized as "Britain's national card game" and the only one legally playable on licensed premises (pubs and clubs) without requiring local authority permission. The game has relatively few rules yet yields endless subtleties during play, which accounts for its ongoing appeal and popularity. Tactical play varies, depending on which cards one's opponent has played, how many cards in the remaining pack will help the hand one holds, and what one's po ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Sand Table
A sand table uses constrained sand for modelling or educational purposes. The original version of a sand table may be the abax used by early Greek students. In the modern era, one common use for a sand table is to make terrain models for military planning and wargaming. Abax An abax was a table covered with sand commonly used by students, particularly in Greece, to perform studies such as writing, geometry, and calculations. An abax was the predecessor to the abacus. Objects, such as stones, were added for counting and then columns for place-valued arithmetic. The demarcation between an abax and an abacus seems to be poorly defined in history; moreover, modern definitions of the word ''abacus'' universally describe it as a frame with rods and beads and, in general, do not include the definition of "sand table". The sand table may well have been the predecessor to some board games. ("The word abax, or abacus, is used both for the reckoning-board with its counters and the play- ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
