Simple counting boards are still used in some Chinese and Japanese elementary schools, but Chinese-style abaci can be used for functions other than counting. And some very efficient techniques have been developed for the suanpan to do multiplication, division, addition, subtraction, square-root and cube-root operations at high speed.

While they are slowly being replaced by speech-enabled calculators, abaci have been commonly used by the visually impaired. The suanpan is still the most common calculating tool in rural China, and the soroban and schoty are still used in remote areas of Japan and Russia, respectively.