Chisanbop

The Chisanbop system. When a finger is touching the table, it contributes its corresponding number to a total.

Chisanbop or chisenbop (from Korean chi (ji) finger + sanpŏp (sanbeop) calculation [1] 지산법/指算法), sometimes called Fingermath,[2] is a finger counting method used to perform basic mathematical operations. According to The Complete Book of Chisanbop[3] by Hang Young Pai, chisanbop was created in the 1940s in Korea by Sung Jin Pai and revised by his son Hang Young Pai, who brought the system to the United States in 1977.

With the chisanbop method it is possible to represent all numbers from 0 to 99 with the hands, rather than the usual 0 to 10, and to perform the addition, subtraction, multiplication and division of numbers.[4] The system has been described as being easier to use than a physical abacus for students with visual impairments.[5]

  1. ^ chisanbop. (n.d.). Dictionary.com Unabridged (v 1.1). Retrieved June 29, 2007, from Dictionary.com website: http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/chisanbop
  2. ^ Lieberthal, Edwin M (1979). The Complete Book of Fingermath: Simple, Accurate, Scientific. London : Souvenir Press. ISBN 0285624385.
  3. ^ Pai, Hang Young (1981). The Complete Book of Chisanbop: Original Finger Calculation Method Created by Sung Jin Pai and Hang Young Pai. Van Nostrand Reinhold. ISBN 0-442-27568-4.
  4. ^ Casebeer, William D. (2001). Natural Ethical Facts: Evolution, Connectionism and Moral Cognition. University of California, San Diego. Retrieved 7 November 2019.
  5. ^ "Education of the Visually Handicapped: The Official Publication of Association for Education of the Visually Handicapped". Education of the Visually Handicapped. 11–12. Association for Education of the Visually Handicapped. 1979. Retrieved 7 November 2019.