How Does the Speed of the Abacus Compare with that of an Electronic Calculator?
Contests have been held between users of the Abacus and electronic calculators. For addition and subtraction, the Abacus user was much faster than the calculator user, but for multiplication and division the advantage of the Abacus was only slightly slower. There is an International Abacus Association which has met many times, the last time being in China in July 2003, where competitions of various kinds are often held. At these global competitions, students clearly showed that in mental calculations, they were much faster than an electronic calculator!
