Special:Badtitle/NS90:Milestone-Proposal talk:The Abacus/Approval of the Proposal/reply

I like the notion of recognizing the abacus as computing milestone. The date situation seems (quite understandably) to be a bit confused. I know I can't help determine an appropriate date but I hope some of our historians can get together and decide what an appropriate date might be. If a date is necessary at all.

I took the liberty of rearranging the citation a bit and show here both the original and the version I propose.

The abacus, which was already used in China by 570 C.E. the latest according to historical records, is the first calculating mechanism known to us. A typical abacus is constructed as a bamboo frame with beads sliding on rods. An abacus helps people keep the track of numbers as they calculate, and its invention was the first step towards to the design of automatic calculators.

The abacus was the first known calculating mechanism. According to historical records, it was used in China by at least 570 C.E.. A typical abacus is constructed as a bamboo frame with beads sliding on rods. An abacus helps people keep track of numbers as they calculate, and its invention was the first step toward the design of automatic calculators.

Just a suggestion.