[SIGCIS-Members] History of Rome. How did they calculate?

Thu Feb 21 02:19:01 PST 2019

Paul,
Thanks!
I have read Williams's book some time ago and I will have a look at it again.
Perhaps the world's best specialist on Greek and Roman table abaci is Alain Schärlig (University of Lausanne, retired). He has written several books on the subject (two are mentioned in my blog post).
In my book "Milestones in Analog and Digital Computing" (English translation in preparation) you find a (mostly) comprehensive list of medieval (and later) table abaci with beautiful pictures. Most of them are preserved in Switzerland, some in Germany, France and other countries. There are also step-by-step instructions for their usage. The book includes a list of museums with information where which artifact has survived (e.g. Darius vase, Salamis tablet, original Roman abaci in Italy and France, etc.).
Best,
Herbert
Meilensteine der Rechentechnik, Band 1
https://www.degruyter.com/view/product/480555

Meilensteine der Rechentechnik, Band 2
https://www.degruyter.com/view/product/503373

Amazon
https://tinyurl.com/y9upwagp 
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Betreff : Re: [SIGCIS-Members] History of Rome. How did they calculate?
The THROBAC and Jim’s MacAbacus are great - but more seriously, there is a useful discussion on the origins of the abacus in Williams, M. R. 1985. A History of Computing Technology. Englewood Cliffs: Prentice-Hall, Inc. - pp 53-66. 

 Williams focuses mainly on the table abacus used by the Greeks and Romans - not the hand abacus discussed in this intriguing blog post, which I did not know about. 

 On p 56, Williams reproduces a drawing of the Greek abacus in use, copied from an ancient vase. Williams is referring to the obvious table abacus in the drawing — but the man in that same drawing is holding something in one hand that might conceivably be a hand abacus like the one Herbert identifies. No further information is given. 

 Herbert, please let us know what you find out!

 Best,

 Paul

     On Feb 20, 2019, at 12:36, 
      herbert.bruderer at bluewin.ch wrote:

How did the Romans calculate?

https://cacm.acm.org/blogs/blog-cacm/234881-how-did-the-romans-calculate/fulltext 

Hi all:

Does anyone know how the Romans calculated with the Roman numeral system?

What is the meaning of the right-most slot of the Roman hand abacus?

Do you have Roman hand abaci (original devices or replicas) in your collection? 

Thank you very much for your help.

Best wishes,

Herbert Bruderer _______________________________________________

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