Beautiful color. Shows how to use the open-end abacus. Discusses the history of the decimal number system and principles of its use, such as grouping in addition, regrouping in subtraction and comparison of number values. Great UNIVAC footage a Man in veil/shawl counting with rocks, kids using abacus/coins/pointer and wooden discs.

Title frame B/W: THE /DETROIT PUBLIC/SCHOOLS/present
ABACUS/(One of Man’s First Counting Machines) Cloud background
Educationa Collaborator/MARGUERITE BRYDEGAARD/Associate Professor of Education/San Diego State College/ Color Prints….LESLIE HELHENA Fade to
MS back of EA male  in suit seated at large  vertical electronic board
CU EA male hand adjusting switches on vertical electronic board
ECU EA male hand adjusting switches on vertical electronic board COLOR now evident
MS bank of computers, reels/tapes spinning
CU blinking bitz- lights?
MS, down angle. Male seated on ground. Dressed in middle eastern style, head covering, robes sandals. Counts on fingers an toes. Camera pans up to flock of sheep in distance
MS Towards Right shoulder of Male in robes kneeling on ground, laying out rocks as counters
LS sheep in field ( Car visible passing by at top of frame)
MS Towards Right shoulder of Male in robes kneeling on ground, laying out rocks as counters
LS  many sheep in field
LS Many sheep close together moving away from camera
MS  Down angle towards Right shoulder of Male in robes kneeling on ground, laying out rocks as counters. Stand, throws rocks down on those arranged in rows, exits screen L
Fade to
MS Down angle towards Right shoulder of Male in robes kneeling on ground, arranging rocks as counters
CU male hands arranging rocks as counters on ground fade to
ECU abacus  frame, beads and dowels fade to
CU of entire  frame abacus VO id’s Chinese “swanpan” fade to
CU different frame abacus VO id’s Japanese “Sotoban” fade to
CU different frame abacus VO id’s Russian “Tschote” fade to
LS  of clouds, Rocket launches “up” Away from camera at Screen L fade to black, fade in
MS 4 female, 2 male EA children gathers at green table. EA male at center holds open top abacus with 10 rods, EA female at screen L holds abacus with 4 dowels. EA female leans in to place counters on the abacus held by the male, EA female seated back to camera takes abacus from EA female and places it on the table
CU EA female hands placing 4 rod abacus on tabletop fade to
CU 4 rod abacus on tabletop EA female hand enters from screen R, reaches behind abacus, gathers wooden counters
4 rod abacus on tabletop, 8 counters on the 1’s rod. $ counters added to 1’s rod. Wooden pointer from screen R indicates number of counters
CU 4 rod abacus on tabletop, L angle, EA hand gathers 10 counters from 1’s rod, one is places on 10’s rod.
CU 4 rod abacus on tabletop,R angle, wooden pointer indicates 1 counter on 10’s rod and 2 counters on 1’s rod. Numerals 1 and 2 appear in overlay ( chalk font!!) over respective rods fade to
CU chalkboard with math problem: 26 + 16
CU  4 rod abacus on tabletop, L angle, 2 counter son 10’s rod, 6 counters on 1’s rod. Wooden pointer indicates 2 and 6. 26 + 16 appears in overlay. BACKGROUND ONLY cuts to
CU 4 rod abacus on tabletop, L angle, further away. 6 counters added to 1’s rod, 10 removed, one added to 10’s rod. Another added to 10’s rod. Wooden pointer indicates 4 counters on 10’s rod and 2 on the 1’s rod. 42 appears as answer beneath math problem in overlay. Back ground fades to black, then problem fades to black.
CU chalkboard with math problem: 43 + 72
CU chalkboard with math problem: 43 + 72 at upper L. background fades in
CU 4 rod abacus  43+ 72 appears in overlay. 5 counters drop onto on 1’s rod, 5 appears in overlay. 11 counters dropped onto 10’s rod. 10 counters removed, 1 placed on 100’s rod. 11 appears to L of 5 in overlay. Overlay fades out, fade to black
CU chalkboard with math problem: 5 + 5 fade to
CU 4 rod abacus on tabletop, L angle. 10 counters placed on far R rod. Overlay appears of 5 + 5 =10. EA hand removes 10 counters from 1’ s rod as overlay disappears. 1 counter placed on 10’s rod. Wooden pointer indicates empty 1’s rod. “0” overlay appears midway up the 1’s rod. Pointer indicates 10’s, 100’s and 1000’s rods. fade to
CU of 1’s and 10’s rods on abacus. 10 counters on 1’s rod. EA hand removes all 10 counters. Shadows move on tabletop, counter placed on 10’s rod. Cut to
CU of 1’s, 10’s and 100’s rods on abacus. 10 counters on 10’s rod. EA hand removes all 10 counters. Counter placed on 100’s rod. Fade to
CU of 4 rods on abacus. 1 counters on 1’s rod. *SPECIAL EFFECT* 5 counters appear one by one on 1’s rod, 10’s rod, 100’s rod then 1000’s rod. Counters then begin to disappear in reverse order until all rods are empty. Cut to
CU of 3 rods on abacus. 5 counters on 1’s rod, 1 counter on 100’s rod. *SPECIAL EFFECT* 11 counters appear one by one on  10’s rod, and then disappear one by one fade to black.
CU chalkboard with math problem: 35 – 12 fades to
CU Math problem 35 – 12 in upper left of black screen. Background of 4 rod abacus with pointer lying in foreground fades in. 5 counters appear on 1’s rod, and 3 counters on 10’s rod. EA hand removes 2 counters form 1’s rod, 3 appears below one’s column of math problem. EA hand removes one counter from 10’s rod, 2 appears below 10’s column in math problem. EA hand picks up pointer from foreground, indicates 2 counters on 10’s rod and 3 counters on 1’s rod. Cut to
CU chalkboard with math problem: 42 – 16 cuts to
CU Math problem 42 -16 at left of screen. Background of 4 rod abacus with pointer lying in foreground. 2 counters drop onto 1’s rod and 4 counters drop onto 10’s rod. EA hand removes one counter from 10’s rod. Overlay of math problem changes to crossed out 4 3 written above. 10 counters drop onto 1’s rod, as “2” in math problem is crossed out and 12 written above. EA hand removes 6 counters from 1’s rod, 6 appears below one’s column in overlay. EA hand removes 1 counter from 10’s rod, 2 appears below 10’s column in overlay. Overlay fades out, cut to
CU of dime at screen L, 10 pennies laid in vertical row at screen R. Camera shakes some. Fade to
CU Silver dollar at screen L, 10 dimes laid in vertical row at screen R. Camera shakes some. Fade to
CU 4 rod abacus with pointer lying in foreground. 10 counters on 1’s rod, 1 counter on 10’s rod. EA hand picks up pointer, indicates 10’s rod, then 1’s rod. Replaces pointer on table, removes 10 counters from 1’s rod. 1 counter dropped onto 100’s rod, then 9 drop onto 10’s rod. Pointer picked up, indicates 100’s rod, 10’s rod, is replaced on table. EA hand removes 10 counters from 10’s rod fade to
CU 4 rod abacus with pointer lying in foreground, from left angle. 1 counters on 1000’s rod. Pointer picked up, indicates 1’s, 100’s, then 1000’s rods. Pointer replaced on table. Cut to
ECU 1’s and 10’s rod on abacus, 3 counters on each. Pointer indicates counters on 1’s rod, then counters on 10’s rod. Cut to
EA hand placing rods into large abacus- 9 in total. cut to
CU 4 rod abacus. Pointer enters screen, indicates 1’s, 10’s, 100’s and 1000’s rods. Fade to larger abacus, with pointer indicating 10K’s 100K, Million, 10 Million, and 100 Million rods. Fade to
CU 4 rod abacus, 10 counters on 1’s rod, 7 counters on 10’s rod. 3 more counters drop onto 10’s rod, 4 counters drop onto 100’s rod, fade to
CU 4 rod abacus, EA female hand in foreground. EA female hand picks up pointer, indicates 1’s, 10’s. 100’ sand 1000’s rods, places pointer on table in foreground. 16 counters drop onto 1’s rod. EA female hand removes 10 counters from 1’s rod, 1 counter drops onto 10’s rod. EA female hand removes counter from 10’s rod, 10 counters drop onto 1’s rod. cut to
CU of left end of an abacus, 3 rods visible. Camera pans to R, shows total of 4 empty rods. fade to
CU 4 rod abacus, 11 counters on 1’s rod. *SPECIAL EFFECT* 5 counters disappear one by one on 1’s rod, and begin to appear on 10’s rod. When 10 counters are on 10’s rod, counters disappear one by one on 10’s rod, and begin to appear on 100’s rod. When 10 counters are on 100’s rod, counters disappear one by one on 100’s rod, and begin to appear on 1000’s rod. 10 counters on 1000’s rod, 1 on 100’s, 1 on 10’s and 1 on 1’s, procedure is reversed until all 4 rods are empty. Fade to
MS 4 female, 2 male EA children gathers at green table. EA female seated at center holds open top abacus with 4 rods, Abacus with 10 rods on tabletop.
EA female at screen R leans in to pick up  10 rod abacus, EA female seated back to camera hands 4 rod abacus from EA female at screen L  fade to black
ENd credits:
THE END over background of clouds

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