The abacus, also called a counting frame, is a calculating tool that has been in use since ancient times and is still in use today. It was used in the ancient Near East, Europe, China, and Russia, centuries before the adoption of the written Arabic numeral system. The exact origin of the abacus is unknown. The abacus essentially consists of a number of rows of movable beads or other objects, which represent digits. One of two numbers is set up, and the beads are manipulated to implement an operation involving a second number, or rarely a square or cubic root.
