Sand table
A sand table uses constrained sand for modelling or educational purposes. The original version of a sand table may be the abax used by early Greek students. In the modern era, one common use for a sand table is to make terrain models for
Abax
An abax was a table covered with sand commonly used by students, particularly in Greece, to perform studies such as writing, geometry, and calculations.[2]
The abax was the predecessor to the abacus. Objects, such as stones, were added for counting and then columns for place-valued arithmetic. The demarcation between an abax and an abacus seems to be poorly defined in history;[3] moreover, modern definitions of the word abacus universally describe it as a frame with rods and beads[4] and, in general, do not include the definition of "sand table".
The sand table may well have been the predecessor to some
Ghubar
An Arabic word for sand (or dust) is ghubar (or gubar), and Western numerals (the decimal digits 0–9) are derived from the style of digits written on ghubar tables in North-West Africa and Iberia, also described as the 'West Arabic' or 'gubar' style.[7]
Military use
Sand tables have been used for
In 1991, "Special Forces teams discovered an elaborate sand-table model of the Iraqi military plan for the defense of Kuwait City. Four huge red arrows from the sea pointed at the coastline of Kuwait City and the huge defensive effort positioned there. Small fences of concertina wire marked the shoreline and models of artillery pieces lined the shore area. Throughout the city were plastic models of other artillery and air defense positions, while thin, red-painted strips of board designated supply routes and main highways."[10]
In 2006, Google Earth users looking at satellite photography of China found a several kilometre large "sand table" scale model, strikingly reminiscent of a mountainous region (Aksai Chin) which China occupies militarily in a disputed zone with India, 2400 km from the model's location. Speculation has been rife that the terrain is used for military exercises of familiarisation.[11][12]
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virtual sand table for urban warfare operations training -
a sand table in the forward operating base -
US Army 2LTs complete Leader Forge using a sand table -
US Army Patriot Academy students participate in military training using a sand table
Education
A sand table is a device useful for teaching in the
See also
References and notes
- ISBN 978-0-8186-7739-7.
- ^ Smith 1958:177–178
- ^ Ifrah 2000:125–126 and others
- ^ See American Heritage definition of "abacus" in External Links below
- ^ Taylor 1879:28
- ^ American Heritage:abacus
- ^ O'Connor, J. J., and E. F. Robertson, The Arabic numeral system http://www-hi Archived 22 March 2021 at the Wayback Machinestory.mcs.st-andrews.ac.uk/history/HistTopics/Arabic_numerals.html
- ^ Preston 'Canada`s RMC: A History of the Royal Military College' (University of Toronto Press, Toronto, 1969)
- ^ Mufson, Beckett (5 November 2014). "Design Digital Terrain with the Army's Projection-Mapped Sandtable". Vice Creators. Retrieved 2 August 2018.
- ^ Arab Forces, Marines Take Kuwait City – The Washington Post, 28 February 1991
- Sydney Morning Herald, 20 July 2006
- indianexpress.com, 4 August 2006
- ^ Raines et al. 1992:101
- ^ Wagner 1999:80
- ISBN 0-471-37568-3.
- ISBN 0-87659-157-8.
- ISBN 0-486-20430-8.
- Taylor, E. B., LL.D (1879), "The History of Games", Fortnightly Review republished in The Eclectic Magazine, New York, W. H. Bidwell, ed., pp. 21–30
- ISBN 1-885477-54-6.
External links
- The History of Computing Project
- "abacus." The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition. Houghton Mifflin Company, 2004. via Dictionary.com Retrieved 28 August 2007.
- Sand table in "TACTICS, The Practical Art of Leading Troops in War" 1922
