This abacus was created as an element to appear in Fabula, as part of eLingua Latina, a language-learning suite of programs under development. The programs are for learning Latin, but I think that they are interesting and innovative also from the point of view of experimental e-Learning program design generally. This little interactive abacus is published here for testing purposes. You might in the meantime like to use it personally or with a class, to learn about counting in Latin.
I've been publishing papers on these programs for a while but now (from March 2010) I'd like to start publishing some of the software components as well. I hope to release the Verba program (an element in the eLingua Latina suite) quite soon as an online download. It's a Latin lexicon that focusses on the sounds of words in all their inflected forms.
I don't know when I'll ever be able to finish this project. Audiences at conferences and early testers have been very enthusiastic when they have seen the progress but how far can you get without funding? It's a very large project, very ambitious, doesn't have any funding, and targets a small language-learning audience, and there's only me developing it. If you would like to make a financial contribution of any amount, no matter how small, how happy I would be, because that would help with ongoing project costs (notably software development tools). Please donate, mentioning this Ancient Roman Abacus page.
� Adrian Mallon 2008, 2010
Note that the abacus element will not function if copied to, or embedded, elsewhere.