The ancient calculating tool, the abacus, still holds an illustrious place in the world of mathematics. The instrument can help calculate numbers with more digits than a classroom calculator, and The Abacus Maths School in Roodepoort has three outstanding youngsters who possess the skills to properly harness its power.
Heading up the school is former Hoërskool Roodepoort teacher Sharné Bressler. Opened in 2006, the school now boasts nine instructors and almost 570 students. The cream of this particular crop are nine-year-olds Arno de Beer and Kylie Africa, as well as 14-year-old JC Roux. All three have excelled in various competitions held by the Abacus Maths Soroban Association of South Africa (AMSASA).
Laerskool Heldekruin pupil, Arno de Beer, was given a top achiever award for 2019. He also achieved a second place in his age group for dictation. In the dictation category, competitors read out numbers as high as a quintillion. Defined as ‘a million raised to the power five’ a quintillion has 18 zeros and is a mouthful for even the most articulate minds.
The Global Association of Japanese Soroban and Mental Arithmetic (GAJSMA) held its international tournament in Dubai this September. Both Kylie Africa and JC Roux competed in their respective age groups. Kylie has represented her country four times and this was JC’s fifth international event. Competing against roughly 50 children per age group, Kylie achieved gold while JC was given the ‘champion’ award. The top three places are labelled ‘Super Champion’, ‘Champion’ and ‘Gold’ and considering that they bested competitors from 16 counties, their achievements are remarkable.
All in all, Team South Africa came home with 47 honours, notably two super champions, eight champions and 10 gold. Silver and bronze hauled in a combined 27 medals to round off an impressive showing.
Abacus Maths has opened the doors of international travel to these young minds and when asked which destination has been their favourite to compete at both JC and Kylie unanimously agreed ”Thailand”, with JC qualifying that with, ”especially the food”.
The mental computing skills of the three youngsters is staggering and shows that no matter how sophisticated our machines get, a thousand-year-old calculating tool and a well-trained brain is all you need to conquer the mathematics world.
