each column in the soroban represents different digit the rightmost column is the ones placethe column to its left is the tens placethe column to the left of that is the hundreds placeand so on the qwertyuioand keys along the top of your keyboard can increase the digit at their respective positionswhile the asdfghjkland keys will decrease them the beads on the virtual soroban will slide to reflect the current number you can also enter numbers directly the four beads below the horizontal divider are "earthbeadsand lifting them up against the divider counts as for that digit the bead above the horizontal divider is "heavenbeadand pulling it down against the divider counts as for that digitso pulling down one heaven bead and pulling up three earth beads in the tens column represents the number more information about abacuses and how to use them can be found at the program in action when you run soroban pythe output will look like thissoroban the japanese abacus by al sweigart al@inventwithpython com +================================ +================================ +== == == == == == == == == == ==+ - (enter number"quit"or stream of up/down letters pppiiiii project #