Abacus is a simple device for calculating .The period 2700-2300BC saw the first appearance of Sumerian abacus. The use of the abacus in Ancient Egypt is mentioned by the Greek historian Herodotus. The earlist known written documentation of the Chinese Abacus dates to the 2^nd centuary BC and is known as suanpan. Although blind students have benefited from talking calculators ,the abacus is still very often taught to these students. The abacus teaches mathematical skills that can never be replaced with talking calculators.

Chinese Zhusuan is the knowledge and practices of arithmetic calculation through the abacus . Zhusuan is considered by Chinese people as a cultural symbol of their identity as well as a practical tool, transmitted from generation to generation. The standard abacus can be used to perform addition ,subtraction multiplication and division. The abacus can also be used to extract square roots and cubic roots .The beads are manipulated with either the index finger or the thumb of one hand.