concept
Schyoty (Russian abacus)
abacus
also: счеты, счетам, счетах
The schyoty, a wooden counting-frame strung with rows of beads, was the everyday calculating tool of Russian merchants, clerks, and shopkeepers well into the twentieth century, prized for speed over pen-and-paper or algebraic method.
Reading notes
- The Tutor §31 abacus
The schyoty, a wooden counting-frame with rows of beads, was the everyday calculating tool of the semi-literate Russian merchant and clerk class -- Udodov's fluency on it, next to the gymnasium student's fumbling with algebra, is the story's final, deflating joke.