Junior Samantha Chen’s light-speed ability when calculating fundamental math problems shined throughout her childhood math courses and continues to keep her mentally quick for everyday arithmetic. The key to her success is the abacus, which is a counting tool that was invented by the Babylonians many centuries ago. The abacus is a rectangular shaped frame that is made up of five beads on the lower section and two beads on the upper section, with a total of 91 beads in 13 columns. As the number grows larger, the beads spread across the board.

Smoke Signal: When did you first start learning how to use the abacus?

Samantha Chen: I started learning when I was five years old, so for 11 years now. My mom forced me to go to class, but afterwards it started to become fun since I got better. 

SS: Where do you go to class and do you teach others how to use the abacus now?

SC: I go to Jin Mental Math Academy in Cupertino and I’m still learning but I help out in class when the teacher asks me to.

SS: Have you gone to any competitions before and what’s a competition like?

SC: [I’ve been] to competitions in Singapore, Malaysia, Taiwan, Japan, and some in America. Within the whole competition are different contests. There is one [contest] when they give you 50 questions for each [category] of addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division, [and] then you have to finish as many [problems] as you can in five minutes. Easiest questions are three digit numbers times four digit numbers and the hardest ones are six digit numbers times five digits. A new one is called “Flash Anzana,” it’s when they flash numbers on a huge screen and you need to answer them. The speed of the flash increases [causing] the problems to become more difficult.

SS:  Have you won any awards before and what’s the fastest time you’ve finished a problem in?

SC: I went to Los Angeles in the summer and won gold and Taiwan where I won silver out of about 200 people. There [are] more [awards], but I can’t remember. I finished 30 multiplication, 25 division, and 30 addition problems in five minutes before.

SS: What are your hopes for abacus in the future?

SC: I want to reach 10 dan [level] by senior year, I’m currently 8 dan. I also want to go to some more competitions. They’re really fun [because] after the competitions, I go with my teammates on tours in the [foreign] country.

SS: I used to do abacus too and people found it weird when I moved my fingers around to calculate math problems. Has this ever occurred to you?

SC: Yes! [Junior] Connie Chang calls it “magnet fingers.” For Key Club’s can food drive, we had to add up all the cans we collected, so [the officers] were just reading off the numbers and I’d [already] come up with a grand total. They were really surprised!