DODDS students compete in math contest

  • Published
  • By Navy Petty Officer 3rd Class Jason Segedy
  • Air Force News Agency
YOKOTA AIR BASE, Japan (AFPN) --  Military children in Japan competed May 23 at the 25th Annual Soroban Contest in Tokyo to show off their mathematical skills.

When asked a tough mathematical problem, most people would pull out their calculators and start plugging away, but many Department of Defense Dependent School students in the Yokota Air Base region have learned the art of using the Japanese soroban, or as it's called in English, the abacus. 

"Some folks think it's a lost art, but I really think it's being revived," said Bruce Derr, the district superintendent for DODDS schools in Japan. "It's just a great activity for kids to improve their math skills and come here from the seven elementary schools to compete against one another." 

First the students were tested on a series of vocal questions, the last of which only five people answered correctly. Then there was a written test students had to answer, and prizes were given out to first, second and third place winners in each category. 

"I'm actually surprised at how I did because I usually take better written tests than oral," said Angela Knight, a fifth grade student at Yokota West Elementary after taking first place for the vocal test and a third place spot in the written. "I think it's all because of (a school official) because she bribed me into starting it, then I got addicted to it and couldn't stop." 

"What's really interesting is people who become really good at it don't even use the soroban or abacus," Mr. Derr said. "They can just picture it in their mind, they see the beads moving and add large math problems faster than one could do it on a calculator, it's a great activity." 

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