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Technical Marvels, Part 3: The Yupana
most common bead frames include Chinese, Japanese, and Russian abacuses as well as school abacuses. Less well known is the Roman hand abacus, of which only three original pieces have survived, and the mysterious Incan counting board, the Yupana.
In “Yupana o ábaco inca, a 100 años (1912–2022): experiencias y posibilidades de educación matemática en América Latina,” Henry-Mark Vilca-Apaza, William Walker, Mamani Apaza, and colleagues provide an excellent overview of the various explanations, similar to Raúl Ibáñez. Another guide stems from Costanza Bustos, Luis Hernando Vergara, and Carlos Julio Luque Arias: “El ábaco inca y las operaciones aritméticas.” The mysterious tablets were apparently suitable for all four basic arithmetic operations: addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division. Source: Henry-Mark Vilca-Apaza, William Walker Mamani Apaza, Beker Maraza Vilcanqui, and Wilfredo Hernán Bizarro Flores: Yupana o ábaco inca, a 100 años (1912–2022): experiencias y posibilidades de educación matemática en América Latina, 2023, page 87
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