abacus Method
The abacus has many features. One of the first things you may notice are the columns and the beads. Each column represents a place value and the beads each have a number value. Starting from the very right, the first column is the ones. The second column to its left is the tens, and as we continue to shift left, the place value increases ten times. As for the beads, each bead below the middle, or answer, line has a value of 1, 10, 100, etc. The beads above the line, however, represent the 5s. The value of the beads is determined by the column in which it resides.
The answer only changes on the abacus if a bead (or beads) is pushed towards the answer line.
In this figure, the answer is 1, because 1 bead has been moved up towards the answer line in first column, which is ones column.
In this figure, the answer is 3, as 3 beads from the first column has moved up to the answer line.
As mentioned, 5 is the bead above the answer line. When pushed down to the answer line, the answer becomes 5.
Here the answer is 6, as 1 (1) bead from the bottom and 1 (5) bead from the top are both on the answer line.
9 is when every bead from the first column is pushed towards the answer line.
Similar to how we write 1 on the tens place and 0 on the ones place to form the number 10, one bead from the second column (from the right side of the abacus) is pushed up to the answer line and nothing changes in the first column to create the answer 10 on the abacus.
The answer in this picture is 11 (Eleven).
The answer in this picture is 12 (Twelve).
The answer in this picture is 15 (Fifteen).
The answer in this picture is 19 (Nineteen).
The answer in this picture is 20 (Twenty).
The answer in this picture is 23 (Twenty-Three).
The answer in this picture is 25 (Twenty-Five).
The answer in this picture is 38 (Thirty-Eight).
The answer in this picture is 45 (Forty-Five).
The answer in this picture is 50 (Fifty).
The answer in this picture is 55 (Fifty-Five).
The answer in this picture is 99 (Ninety-Nine).
