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Catalog Data

Maker:
Crook, Welton J.  Search this
Physical Description:
paper (overall material)
Measurements:
overall: 12.7 cm x 20.3 cm; 5 in x 8 in
Object Name:
Pamphlet
pamphlet
Place made:
United States: California, Palo Alto
Date made:
1958
Description:
This illustrated paperback book gives detailed instructions for using a Chinese abacus to add, subtract, multiply, divide, extract square roots, and find cube roots. Australian-born metallurgist, Stanford University graduate, and later Stanford professor of metallurgy Welton J. Crook (1886-1976). Crook wrote it. He became fascinated with the abacus on a visit to Hong Kong, and resolved to publish a clear exposition on the instrument in English. His short book was published in 1958 by Pacific Books in Palo Alto, California, and sold tens of thousands of copies. For an abacus collected with this book, see 1989.0709.01. The abacus and the book were given to the Smithsonian by Washington, D. C., clockmaker Elton L. Howe in 1989.
On Crook, see: Stanford University Faculty Memorials, “Memorial Resolution Welton J. Crook (1886-1976)," digitized by the Stanford Historical Society.
Location:
Currently not on view
Subject:
Mathematics  Search this
Credit Line:
Gift of Elton L. Howe
ID Number:
1989.0709.03
Accession number:
1989.0709
Catalog number:
1989.0709.03
See more items in:
Medicine and Science: Mathematics
Abacus
Science & Mathematics
Data Source:
National Museum of American History
GUID:
http://n2t.net/ark:/65665/ng49ca746a7-323a-704b-e053-15f76fa0b4fa
EDAN-URL:
edanmdm:nmah_904581