Mental arithmetic is a unique technique preschool development, which is a training in counting and helps develop the child’s thinking. The classes harmoniously develop both hemispheres of the brain, thanks to which even strong humanists can “click” problems and equations in the blink of an eye.

The method is based on the Japanese abacus called soroban. This unusual device is rarely seen in our area. It is a “calculator” on which only unambiguous representation of numbers is possible. This avoids confusion as with regular bills.

These abacus have an odd number of spokes arranged vertically that represent one number. There are five dominoes strung on each knitting needle. The four dominoes at the bottom are ones, and the top one represents a five.

Benefits of mental arithmetic

Kids learn Japanese mechanical abacus very quickly. It should be noted that this device has an amazing effect on the development of thinking in children.

1. Classes using the method force the imaginative right hemisphere of the brain to solve mathematical problems. This allows you to simultaneously use two hemispheres, which means that the brain works twice as efficiently, practicing mental mental arithmetic.

2. People who learned to count on Soroban can easily carry out complex calculations in the mind in the shortest period of time. Masters can do this easily, even without having a soroban in front of them. Even a child can fold it in a couple of seconds three digit numbers at the beginning of training. And with practice, they will learn to operate with numbers with five zeros.

3. Children who master the method of mental calculation show not only success in mathematics, but also in learning in general. Teachers and psychologists note: mental arithmetic improves the child's concentration and attention, trains observation, memory and imagination, as well as the child's creative, non-standard thinking. The child literally grasps information on the fly and analyzes it with ease.

Training using the method of mental calculation

IN curriculum primary schools Japan has even introduced a subject - mental mathematics, specialists from the AMAKids children's development center state on their website. Thanks to this technique, erudite children are among the winners every year mathematical olympiads. Also educational programs with the use of sorban are provided in China and Malaysia.

We are also opening schools for studying Japanese mental arithmetic. It is recommended to start training at the age of 4-11 years. It is during this period that the child’s brain actively “gains momentum” and develops. Which means to achieve active work both hemispheres quite easily. In adulthood, mental arithmetic serves as a method for preventing atherosclerosis and Alzheimer's. But such phenomenal results as children demonstrate can no longer be achieved.

Many parents worry that mixing regular and Japanese math will confuse their child and cause him or her to fall behind the basic curriculum at school. In fact, practice shows that children who were previously in exact sciences There weren’t enough stars, but after a couple of months of training they showed good results and were ahead of their peers.

The Japanese method of mental calculation is an original approach to learning, which is just beginning to develop in our country. This technique not only teaches kids how to instantly add and subtract numbers. Its main advantage is that it develops the child’s mental abilities, opening up new intellectual possibilities for him.

Prepared by Katerina Vasilenkova

Nations that use hieroglyphs have a different type of thinking. Does it affect their lives? It's hard to say. Such people are visual by nature, they perceive figuratively the world around us. And this system of perception does not bypass even the exact sciences. It will be interesting for everyone to know how the Japanese multiply. Firstly, you don’t have to frantically search for a calculator, and secondly, this is a very exciting activity.

Let's draw

It's amazing, but Japanese children can multiply even without knowing about the multiplication table. How do the Japanese multiply? They do it very simply, so simply that they use only basic drawing and counting skills. It’s easier to show with an example how this happens.

Let's say you need to multiply 123 by 321. First you need to draw one, two and three parallel lines that will be placed diagonally from the upper left corner to the lower right. On the created groups of parallels, draw three, two and one line, respectively. They will also be placed diagonally from the bottom left to the top right.

As a result, we get a so-called rhombus (as in the figure above). If anyone hasn't figured it out yet, the number of lines in a group depends on the numbers that need to be multiplied.

We count

So how do the Japanese multiply numbers? The next stage is counting the intersection points. First, we separate with a semicircle the intersection of three lines with one and count the number of points. We write the resulting number under the diamond. Then, in exactly the same way, we separate the areas where two lines intersect with three and one. We also count the points of contact and write them down, then we count the points that remain in the center. You should get a result similar to the figure below.

It is worth paying attention to the fact that if the central number is two-digit, then the first digit must be added to the number that was obtained when counting the points of contact in the area to the left of the center. Thus multiplying 123 by 321, we get 39,483.

This method can be used to multiply both two-digit and three-digit numbers. One problem is that if you have to count numbers like 999, 888, 777, etc., you will need to draw a lot of lines.

On television, usually on a day off, several channels broadcast programs in which children aged two years and older demonstrate their unique talents, amazing both the audience and the jury, if provided for by the rules of the project, and the entire population of the country. Some draw intricate figures on roller skates, some can name the capital of any state offhand, some recite poems by Pasternak, Tsvetaeva and Voznesensky from memory, others easily wield blacksmith pliers and a hammer. This is amazing.

But some children, slightly closing their eyes and making seemingly chaotic movements with the thumb and forefinger of both hands, demonstrate the ability to quickly count in their heads. Moreover, they do not add, subtract and multiply prime numbers, and three and even four-digit ones. From the outside it seems like magic, and many parents, staring at the TV screen with admiration, wonder: how to teach a child to count quickly?

After such programs, many people go online and are surprised to learn that the wise Japanese and even wiser Chinese have known for a long time, a couple of millennia, how to teach a child to count in his head. To do this, they even created the wonderful Abacus abacus, or Soroban in Japanese, somewhat similar to our Russian wooden abacus, which has long since sunk into oblivion after the invention of calculators, computers and other smart gadgets.

What is good about mental arithmetic?

Using this ancient method, you can teach a child to operate quickly and confidently in a year or two. large numbers. However, a fair question arises: will the baby’s brain be too busy with mathematical operations to leave room and time for other things?

If you turn on logic and think a little, then, looking at Asians who have been practicing this teaching practice for more than one century, it becomes clear that there are no side effects she hasn't. Not only that, but children who know how to use an Abacus abacus have:

  • activation of visual and auditory memory.
  • the ability to concentrate at the right time.
  • strengthening ingenuity and intuition.
  • independence and confidence.
  • the ability to think outside the box.
  • realization of abilities and a successful career.
  • development of creative potential.
  • development of ability to learn foreign languages.

At first glance, the list has absolutely nothing to do with numbers and mathematical operations. But this is where the uniqueness of the method lies. Constant practice with Abacus abacus allows you to establish accelerated connections between the right and left hemispheres of the brain, one of which is responsible for logic, and the second for imagination. It is on the development of imagination that the emphasis is placed. And when a child is able to logically explain what he came up with, these are no longer empty fantasies - this is an invention, an innovation. Plus excellent memory, intuition and concentration. To put it mildly, it won't hurt. And to be honest, it will help you for the rest of your life.

What is an Abacus abacus?

The device, if this term is applicable here, is quite simple. A wooden frame divided by a crossbar into two unequal parts. At the top there is a row of single bones, indicating fives. At the bottom of each column there are four bones - ones. The columns, from right to left, represent sequentially units, tens, hundreds, thousands, and so on. Manipulating bones, among other things, also develops fine motor skills in children, helping positive influence to speech centers.

This simple configuration is memorized without difficulty, and after just a few lessons the child successfully begins to comprehend the basics of mathematics and can begin calculations.

How the training works

Contrary to the opinion of some experts who claim that the abacus or Abacus ruler is only available at the ages of 5 to 11 years, you can learn to count mentally even in old age. Specified age restrictions are optimal and it is during this period that they bring more benefit not only in the study of mathematics. It is also not prohibited to start learning earlier, and mastering Abacus is not at all difficult for an adult. Another thing is that the mentality and character have already been formed and a 40-year-old person will not learn anything else except how to quickly add and subtract.

With children it's a different story. In the first lessons, they learn to count directly on the abacus itself, moving the knuckles with their fingers, which in itself is very useful. As already noted, fine motor skills develop, useful not only for the joints, but also for the speech centers of the brain. The brain is stimulated, plus it is forced to solve simple examples, which also develops attention and memory. Classes are usually held in game form, in order not only to interest the child, but also to show him that mathematics does not have to be boring at all.

At the second stage, when the child already copes well enough with the tasks of calculating how much it will be to add 234 to 543 or subtract 237 from 421 using abacus, they begin to focus on imagination. The child must mentally imagine the Abacus abacus and mentally move the dominoes. Children are already accustomed to doing this with their fingers and in most cases continue to move them in the air. Under no circumstances should you force them to stop doing this, much less put their hands in their pockets or behind their backs. No harm in these strange to a stranger There are no movements, the child is just more used to it.

Typically, three mathematical operations are mastered: addition, subtraction and multiplication.

The question may arise: how can you then teach the multiplication tables at school and doesn’t this teacher requirement become useless? Absolutely not. Abacus abacus teaches you how to operate with multi-digit numbers, and how much is five five or seven nine you just need to remember. As they say, one not only does not interfere with the other, but complements it.


If you sent your child to a children's center to learn counting using an Abacus ruler, be prepared to be a little surprised. Unlike sports sections and circles of all kinds for daily activities are not needed here. Two hours once a week is enough to successfully comprehend this science. But the main thing is to complete the homework that the teacher will give. You don’t need a lot of time for them either - 15-20 minutes, but they must be done. Constant practice, even such a short one, will allow you not only to maintain the skills acquired in the classroom, but also to strengthen them. And a dosed and well-balanced load on the brain has never harmed anyone.

IN good centers, where experienced and qualified teachers work, the mental arithmetic training program is adjusted depending on the individual qualities of the child.

A little from practice

One small example for clarity.

So, the Abacus abacus consists of:

  • wooden or plastic frame.
  • dividing bar.
  • lower ossicles meaning units.
  • the top seeds, meaning fives.

That's it, there's nothing else in them.

Now let’s imagine how a number, for example 375, will look on them.

  • on the column with units, lower the top bone to the dividing crossbar.
  • on the column with tens we do the same, but we raise two bones from below.
  • in the hundreds column we raise three bones.

Everything is simple and clear, isn’t it? There's nothing to add.

With addition and subtraction it is a little more difficult and it is better to first see how an experienced accountant does it, who can also explain everything clearly. Visualization at the first stage of training is simply necessary.

Attentive and interested readers have probably long ago decided that teaching a child mathematics using an Abacus abacus is useful, no matter how you look at it. And don’t let him become an outstanding scientist who will playfully operate with multi-digit numbers and sprinkle in multi-level formulas. Training will also be useful in other areas of activity, because attentiveness, good memory, self-confidence, and the ability to solve any problems in a creative way are the keys to a successful career and a happy life.

What is Soroban?

Soroban was converted from the Chinese abacus and is a wooden abacus with only 5 stones in one row. Four of them mean one and the fifth means “five”. Thus, 4 + 5 = 9, and this is enough to represent on the ruler all the numbers from 0 to 9. The stones moved to the middle bar are considered significant. The rulers are not located horizontally, as in Russian abacus, but vertically. For the decimal positional system this is another plus because corresponds to the form of writing numbers from left to right; by the way, calculations on Soroban are also carried out from left to right, starting from the most significant digits.

Soroban has not lost its position even today and is even spreading throughout the world, thanks to its remarkable qualities.Soroban occupies an important place in educational system Japan and some other countries. One such country is Thailand, where a large shipment of sorobane was recently delivered.

Soroban is a calculator that is optimal in its properties. It, unlike the Chinese suanpan or Russian abacus, eliminates confusion in calculations, since it provides an unambiguous representation of the numbers. No number can be put aside in accounts in two ways. This is what makes it understandable.

And the phenomenal successes achieved by many Japanese in handling soroban allowed teachers and psychologists to conclude that this simple device stimulates a child’s mental abilities, especially mathematical ones. No wonder in international school competitions In mathematics, Japanese participants traditionally take prizes.

Why are Russian scores losing?

By removing the bone on each of the axes of ordinary Russian abacus, we received a “Russian soroban”, in the hope that it would not be inferior to the Japanese one. Yes, we managed to avoid ambiguity in the set of numbers (in Russian abacus, the number 10 can be postponed in two ways). The resulting abacus with 9 bones was turned horizontally; now, like on the Japanese soroban, addition could be done bit by bit from left to right, which brought them closer to the decimal form of writing numbers. It seemed that success was guaranteed, but with an increase in the counting speed, difficulties began to appear in determining “by eye” the number of seeds set aside on the ruler; it was necessary to count them (especially 7 or 8 seeds). This slowed down the score. It turned out that our “invention” is not suitable for psychological characteristics human visual attention in the same way as the Japanese soroban.

So we abandoned our “invention” and admitted that the Japanese Soroban 4+1 scheme is optimal.

Account rules on Soroban

1. Reset is done by shaking the bones down (lightly hitting the table), then using the index finger to run along the upper bones, moving them away from the partition.

2. The first term is set aside. The number is typed bitwise, and all operations on the soroban are done from left to right, i.e., the most significant digit is set aside first, and in order to the least significant one. Let us repeat that the “cost” of each of the lower bones is 1, each of the upper ones is 5.

3. Bitwise, also from left to right, we add the second term. The addition is intuitive, you just need to remember that when a digit overflows, 1 is added to the most significant (left) digit.

Subtraction is carried out similarly to addition, from left to right, but if there are not enough tiles, they are taken from the highest (left) digit.

Want to know how it works?

A group of activists from Kabardino-Balkaria created electronic version Soroban account. By following the link, you can try the technique of the mysterious Japanese abacus.

School of mental calculation Soroban in Dnepropetrovsk

School for children aged 4-11 years old to learn mental arithmetic. As a result, the child can add and multiply multi-digit numbers in his head.
One of the main questions that almost any person asks when hearing about this system for the first time: “Why would my child think that?”
Of course, it’s nice to show off your unusual skills to your friends. Of course, during the entire subsequent long life of the soroban master, no one will cheat - and there will be no need to check the suspiciously large bill for lunch at a restaurant. This is all nice and even useful - but is it worth the effort? Let me give you an allegory: we use cars, buses and other transport every day. And no one nowadays travels exclusively on foot (tourists and climbers also go to the starting point of the route).But no one denies the benefits that running in the morning provides.

Imagine that you need to accurately describe a person's appearance on paper. For this, a machine (camera) needs 1 megabyte of memory, or in human language 1 million words and numbers. And we deal with this in 1 second. Why is this happening?

It is obvious that a person is not able to remember 1 million words in a second or a year. But does this mean that we cannot remember a person’s face? The solution is in the memorization method. The right hemisphere is in charge of images, and millions of years of evolution have taught it to work this way. This knowledge is passed on to us from birth. And the left hemisphere is in charge of numbers. And this knowledge is passed on to us by the school. So why not find a method in which our fast right hemisphere learns to operate with accurate data. We have a supercomputer in our heads, but we don't use it.

Our task is to retrain our hemispheres. Make them work harmoniously and simultaneously. Tune our brain in an unusual way. But is this possible?

Is it possible to learn to speak Chinese fluently in 2 years? And one billion Chinese coped with this without straining themselves.

We have come to the key issue - the age of the student. Unfortunately, it is almost impossible to teach this technology to an adult. And the sooner you start training, the better. The only thing he needs to be able to count to 10. The most optimal age is from 4 to 7 years. The upper limit is 11 years.

If your child cannot master solving mathematical problems and remember the necessary formulas, and preparing homework turns into a nightmare, the Japanese Soroban counting method can be a salvation. This method It amazingly helps develop children's thinking.

The unique method of mental arithmetic allows even those children who have no ability in arithmetic to learn to easily solve problems after a short period of time, enjoying the process.

Features of mental counting

The Japanese method of quick counting is a unique system for developing children and transforming children's thinking. This method allows you to simultaneously use both hemispheres of the brain, which provides even bright humanities students with the opportunity to quickly learn to solve various examples.

Teaching abacus using the Japanese method is based on the use of special abacus called soroban - this non-traditional device is not often found in our country. This is a kind of calculator that demonstrates only an unambiguous numerical representation system, which guarantees the clarity and understandability of the system.

In Soroban it is always used odd number spokes arranged vertically, with each of them assigned the designation of one number. Any knitting needle has five bones, where the lower four are reserved for ones, and the upper one is reserved for “five”.

The child is fascinated by this Japanese method of mental calculation and the abacus itself, which allows him to quickly master the process, and the main advantage of the method can be called the incredibly rapid development of thinking.

Basic principles of the method


The Japanese mental arithmetic system is designed not only to teach students operational mental arithmetic, but also to general development their intellectual skills. It is a known fact that the hemispheres human brain work unevenly, and a 5-8 year old child uses mainly the right side, which is responsible for creativity and emotional images.

When learning to count occurs, the load on the left side increases, rationality and logic develop, which systematically reduces creativity. The Japanese method of mental arithmetic allows you to balance the functioning of the brain, ensuring full development.

With the help of abacus work, children develop intellectually, begin to think faster and easily achieve success in any learning. Similar results are ensured by the main principles of the Soroban method:

  • Manual motor skills through training. The brain controls human actions, but there is also a reverse process, so working with special abacus using the fingers of both hands allows you to improve children's thinking.
  • Systematic work. None of us are born the best, and to achieve the top in any endeavor, you need to train regularly. The Japanese counting method also works on this principle.
  • Visualization. Having visual materials expressed in soroban counting dice, it is much easier for a child to understand numbers and understand the meaning of calculations.

What is needed to learn mental arithmetic?

Soroban will provide assistance in teaching a child to count only if the training began in a timely manner, at the age of about 4-8 years. Parents must be patient and move gradually, because this procedure requires a certain amount of time. Also important conditions success will be:

  • Teaching a child using the “from simple to complex” method. At the first stage, you need to master counting to ten, and then counting back.
  • A child needs to be taught to count from the age of two, but learning numbers and figures can begin around the age of four, when the baby is able to consciously count the objects in his field of vision.
  • The exercises should be carried out in a relaxed atmosphere, but not in the form of lectures. Children learn best through play, which connects emotional perception and increases learning efficiency.
  • The difficulty of tasks should be gradually increased. Also teach your child the differences between the signs “greater than,” “less than,” and “equal to.”

If you have this initial training, you can freely send your child to the Soroban school for studying Japanese mental arithmetic, where professional teachers will study the child’s personal characteristics and take into account his abilities and skills.

To master the Soroban technique, you can contact an online school Japanese language Daria Moinich. To know additional information possible at .

The advantages of mental arithmetic from Japan

Children quickly develop their skills in using soroban, which has an incredibly beneficial effect on the development of thinking. Kids learning to count on Soroban can carry out heavy calculations in their heads in the blink of an eye, while true professionals of the technique are able to perform them even without Soroban. Just a couple of seconds will be enough to add 3-digit numbers, and then, when the skills are perfected, the child will be able to operate with 5-digit numbers.

This technique guarantees the child success not only in arithmetic, but also in other areas of acquiring knowledge. According to teachers and psychologists, Japanese abacus increases children's focus and concentration, improves memory, resourcefulness and imagination, and improves creative skills. Children begin to grasp information on the fly and quickly analyze it.

Some parents believe that their child may become confused when combining traditional and Japanese arithmetic, which will lead to a drop in school performance. Nevertheless, practical experience demonstrates that after just a few months, a child practicing soroban begins to show talent in the exact sciences and is ahead of his peers in development.

All the mentioned advantages of mental arithmetic are only the basis of the key advantage - mental arithmetic allows you to reveal and nourish the child’s intellect, as well as educate the child’s personality, instilling in the child confidence, independence, and the ability to achieve success in any situation.

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