Is there a shortcut for division using an abacus?

Question

I have been messing around with abaci and counting boards lately, and have found some very good shortcuts for addition, subtraction, and multiplication that really simplify the process. But try as I may, I can't seem to find a shortcut for division that works with all division problems. Specifically, I'm trying to find an easier way to solve problems with multi-digit divisors, and without trying to guess digits in the quotient. I'm sure there MUST be a way, but I just haven't figured it out.

FYI- I have primarily been using a base-16 (hexidecimal) counting board I put together (which uses 4 binary squares to represent each digit), but I have been looking into standard, decimal based abaci too. I have found the hexidecimal board easier to work with, but any shortcut for either would be much appreciated.

Thank you to the answerers, and God bless you!

I have heared of a slide rule before, but have never messed with one... might have to look into that. But, I also heared about someone who developed a division shortcut a while back by using the fingers as a simple abacus. I have no clue who he is or what his method is called, and haven't found any further information on it. Thought maybe someone out there may know.

Answer 1

Division is just repeated subtraction (keep a count of how many times you subtracted). However there's no easy way to do it on the abacus that I know. Get a slide rule and/or a table of logarithms!

Without either of those, what I would do would be to round off the numerator and/or the denominator, calculate an approximate answer, and then fix it up afterwards.