Bizarre Object Found on UNC Campus: Explanation Needed

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03-04-2007, 02:01 PM
boyce

Bizarre Object Found on UNC Campus: Explanation Needed

Spotted during a visit Friday afternoon:

http://www.procourse.com/unc_bizarre.jpg

This is sort of like those New Yorker cartoons where you have to submit a caption for, except there's probably more funny things to say.

-Boyce
03-04-2007, 02:04 PM
allenmurray

Their catching up, slowly

It has been there for a while. I think that their IT depaertment is cliaming to have invented the abacus.
03-04-2007, 02:19 PM
BluBones

Weird to go to all that trouble to build a giant abacus and then not display it right side up.
03-04-2007, 02:26 PM
hughgs

Quote:

Originally Posted by BluBones

Weird to go to all that trouble to build a giant abacus and then not display it right side up.

Uh, actually the abacus is right side up. My dad taught me to use an abacus in elementary school (something he learned in elementary school) and it's definitely not upside down. Now, they are missing a set of beads on both the top and bottom. It should have 2 beads on the top and five beads on the bottom. They help facilitate carrying during addition.
03-04-2007, 03:20 PM
throatybeard

Quote:

Bizarre Object Found on UNC Campus: Explanation Needed

Given the thread title, I was expecting a picture of Ivory Latta.
03-04-2007, 03:23 PM
Karl Beem

No,it's to celebrate the Helms Foundation decision that UNC had invented the abacus.
03-04-2007, 03:48 PM
godukecom

that is a japanesse abacus
http://webhome.idirect.com/~totton/abacus/pages.htm
here is a simple explanation if you are dont want the trouble of clicking the link
The Japanese Soroban
http://webhome.idirect.com/~totton/abacus/1.gif
03-04-2007, 05:00 PM
willywoody

so the unc IT dept invented the japanese abacus. how cool is that!
03-04-2007, 05:48 PM
hughgs

Quote:

Originally Posted by godukecom

that is a japanesse abacus
http://webhome.idirect.com/~totton/abacus/pages.htm
here is a simple explanation if you are dont want the trouble of clicking the link
The Japanese Soroban
http://webhome.idirect.com/~totton/abacus/1.gif

Ah, that explains it. I learned on the Chinese abacus. My bad, I just assumed that they were all alike since I had seen a Russian one years ago and I remember it as being the same as the Chinese abacus. Thanks and sorry about that. As an aside I don't think it really matters where the units bar starts. The one my dad had used a metal bar to denote the units place. And it had about 5 or 6 rows to the right of it.
03-04-2007, 05:49 PM
BluBones

Quote:

Originally Posted by hughgs

Uh, actually the abacus is right side up. My dad taught me to use an abacus in elementary school (something he learned in elementary school) and it's definitely not upside down. Now, they are missing a set of beads on both the top and bottom. It should have 2 beads on the top and five beads on the bottom. They help facilitate carrying during addition.

My bad. I didn't think it was upside down; I thought it was on its side. After some minimal googling I find that that was because the abacus I learned to use in elementary school was apparently a Russian abacus:

http://content.answers.com/main/cont...oty_abacus.jpg

Communist influence? Probably.