Anzan is the advanced stage of soroban learning, where the learner imagines the abacus in their mind and moves the beads visually to compute without a physical abacus.
How does anzan work?
After enough practice on a real abacus, the soroban image becomes fixed in the learner's mind. They can then see numbers as beads and perform addition, subtraction, multiplication and division with remarkable speed.
Steps to train anzan
- Master operations on a real abacus first.
- Practice "seeing" the abacus with your eyes closed.
- Start with small numbers, then increase difficulty gradually.
- Keep short daily exercises to anchor the mental image.
Build the needed foundation with the addition and subtraction lessons, then test your speed on the practice page.