Feb 2021 New: 2 Mental Abacus Apps for Fun and Games

The abacus shot to fame as a great technique to help children develop their visual skills with regard to arithmetic.

Discover what mental abacus apps are and how it rose to fame.

 

I'm the author of this article and I'm a qualified abacus teacher, answering questions from around the world online abacus and various questions from online-soroban.com students.

Table of contents

One of the biggest buzzwords of the 21st century took over the tech industry like a Californian wildfire in the middle of summer.

Let us first look at the definition of what exactly an app is, what it does, and why it got so popular.

Wikipedia states that an app is a computer software that is designed to run on mobile devices.

The mobile app market witnessed incredible growth leading to an expansion into areas such as mobile games, factory automation, GPS, order tracking, ticket purchasing, and more.

Apps are downloaded from an online store and once installed, run locally on your smartphone, tablet, or other electronic devices such as smart-TVs and smartwatches.

With regard to mobile apps, every major platform has its own store where you can view, rate, and download apps.

Currently, the two biggest mobile platforms are Android and iOS.

Android users can download from the Google Play Store while their iOS counterparts (iPhone, iPod & iPad) get theirs from the App Store.

Fun fact: the term has become extremely popular; so much that it was listed as Word of The Year in 2010 by the American Dialect Society.

The multitude of incredible features and opportunities they afford us results in a whole new immersive innovative experience.

Thanks to Uber, you can get a ride from anywhere at any time.

The Facebook and Twitter app allows communication with friends, family, and even strangers have become instant.

The Airbnb app lets us rent any house in any part of the world at any given point in time.

The convenience these applications offer us is too great to ignore.

Technology places the world in our hands.
 

1-1.The Truth About Mental Abacus App

The same incredible benefits hold true for the Abacus Teaching Apps.

There are dozens of applications available online, bringing the benefits of learning the abacus straight to your pocket.

While some apps specialize in just one kind of abacus by default, others have the capability to support up to 6 different types of the abacus (soroban, suanpan, binary, Russian, school & rekenrek).

Mobile platform repositories such as Google Play hold abacus applications for all possible age groups.

There are teaching apps like Online Soroban for children, designed to help your kids learn the basics, how to count with the abacus, how to perform basic arithmetic problems -addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division.

They are simple and easy for a child to understand and navigate yet they still manage to come across as immersive thanks to the use of interactive features and multi-color splash layouts.

Apps for children also make use of certain activities that “disguise” the learning process as a game complete with music and difficulty levels.

Learning with Online Soroban’s math app teaches children a variety of math skills using the abacus.

With more than just an abacus to explore, this app includes addition, subtraction, and many free play options that children can use for hands-on learning and practice.

Before you download any application, be sure to look at the ratings and read the reviews posted by previous users.

It is also important to note that some apps are free to download and some require payment or a subscription.

1-2.Improving Mental Calculation Using Mental Abacus App

It is common knowledge that Korea and Japan rank as top performers in arithmetic problem solving and overall math literacy.

What isn't well known however is the reason why.

You see, a determining factor behind this result is the fact that schools in these countries use the abacus to teach students the basics of math. It’s also an excellent way to master quick arithmetic.

The reason this methodology works so well is that learning it unknowingly triggers the holistic development of the brain.

When using the abacus, children use both their hands when moving the beads to perform their calculations causing their brain and hands to communicate quicker.

More and faster communication between the brain and other parts of the body stimulates brain growth and strength.

Furthermore, since they would have to visualize the numbers that each bead represents, they would invoke simultaneous use of the left and right brain.

The right brain helps in visualizing/creativity while the left brain does the calculations.

Through the use and constant practice of these methods, the Asian children would learn arithmetic and advanced mathematical concepts significantly faster than their counterparts in the west who relied on calculators and/or pen and paper.

1-3. Benefits of the Abacus and Perks of Mental Abacus App

The use of our old friend, the Abacus, teaches us fundamental skills such as concentration, pattern recognition, and critical thought.

A heap of life-long benefits accompanies studying the abacus.

We list a few below:

1. Better memory and concentration abilities.

2. Logical understanding capabilities enhanced.

3. Numerical memory is boosted.

4. Improving problem-solving abilities

5. Improves visualization skills

6. Enhances faster calculation Most importantly, learning the abacus makes math useful, meaningful, and fun for children and senior students as well. Last but not least, the abacus lays out how mathematical concepts are formed, their importance, and how to solve them.

Of great assistance towards approaching any difficulties or problems, they may face in any facet of life.

Overall  
The first reaction I get when I talk about abacus platforms for mobile and desktop PCs is surprise and disbelief.

“But the abacus is an ancient 3000year old wooden contraption.

Surely no one would use such an outdated model when every smartphone nowadays has an inbuilt calculator!”

scoffs the doubting Thomas.

While I see why one would latch onto this line of thought, I am here to say they couldn’t be more wrong.

Yes, the abacus was invented a couple of thousand years ago but ask yourself why are some of the biggest tech companies on the planet spending thousands of dollars on research and development of abacus technology.

Surely the abacus must have some sort of significant benefit towards humanity if it is still relevant after thousands of years.

Don’t take my word for it. Why don’t you get out your phone, visit the Google Play Store and download the Online Soroban app for yourself?

See what all the hype is about!