The general use of a polygonal or round abacus, as more consonant with neighboring forms than the square shape, is one of the distinctive features of perfected Pointed architecture.Īny rectangular slab or piece especially, a stone or marble tablet serving as a sideboard, shelf, or credence. In western styles every variety of size, shape, and ornamentation occurs. In Byzantine work it is often a deep block affiliated with classic examples. In medieval architecture the entablature was abandoned and the arch placed directly on the column or pillar the abacus, however, was retained until the decline of the style. In the Greek Doric it is thick and square, without sculptured decoration in the Ionic order it is thinner, and ornamented with moldings on the sides in the Corinthian also it is ornamented, and has concave sides and truncated corners. In architecture: The slab or plinth which forms the upper member of the capital of a column or pillar, and upon which rests, in classic styles, the lower surface of the architrave. The sum shown in the annexed engraving of a Chinese abacus (called swanpan, or “reckoning-board”) is 5,196,301. ![]() In the form with movable balls, these are used simply as counters to record the successive stages of a mental operation. The sand-strewn tray is supposed to have been introduced from Babylon into Greece by Pythagoras, who taught both arithmetic and geometry upon it hence this form is sometimes called abacus Pythagoricus. ![]() The abacus was used, with some variations in form, by the Greeks and Romans, and is still in every-day use in many eastern countries, from Russia to Japan, for even the most complex calculations. ![]() A tray strewn with dust or sand, used in ancient times for calculating.Ī contrivance for calculating, consisting of beads or balls strung on wires or rods set in a frame.
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