Viewing page 111 of 240

This transcription has been completed. Contact us with corrections.

ADDING MACHINES and gigantic arithmetic-minded cash registers are replaced in Japan by a small and simple rack of wooden balls called a soroban. This pocket-size, inanimate genius miraculously adds, subtracts, multiplies, and divides at the touch of nimble Japanese fingers. By counting the balls as he moves them up and down, the merchant knows just how much the bill is and how much change the customer has coming. (So swiftly and with such ease does the soroban work, one gets the impression that the bamboo bookkeeper is also capable of forecasting the weather, formulating plans for world peace, and fathering children.)

The serviceman watches the merchant perform mathematical magic on the soroban and he craves to learn the sliding-ball operation. When he does learn, he too goes without adding machines - even at that time of year when Uncle Sam drives him into a duel and a dilemma with his income tax. 

106