Chinese Inventions

Did you know the Chinese invented making silk from the cocoons of certain caterpillars. They also invented the compass, gunpowder, porcelain, wheelbarrow, paper, and early computer called an abacus. This was a simple calculator using beads which were moved along wires.

Others, including the Egyptians, Greeks, Romans and Japanese also used it to perform arithmetic problems. It can be used to add, subtract, multiply, and divide, and to calculate square roots and cube root. The abacus is still in use today.