A software to practice anzan

Anzan is the mental calculation you perform while visualizing a soroban in your head.

A little pyQt software

To help me practice, I have also made a little program in python and pyqt. It's called Mental Calculation (how original !)

Simple configuration

You can choose how many numbers to add, how many digit each number have, the time between the display of each number (called timeout) and the time a number stays on screen (called flash).

Speech synthesis

You can also have each number said to you by a speech synthesizer. It required a working Internet connection as requests are made for each sound.

Replaying a sequence

You can replay any sequence for your convenience. Just press the 'Replay' button if you missed some number.

Misc. options

You can use it full screen, and/or in a continuous mode where you don't have to enter an answer and to interact with the keyboard. It goes on ad infinitum.

Note: Various options can be changed from the configuration file. See the README to find out how to change them.

Start of the app with settings dialog opened

The welcome screen

The main window

In french on Linux, with custom colors

Screencasts

The first one demoing a standard practice of anzan
The second one using the speech synthesis to practice the soroban

Try it yourself!

It's free (licensed under the GPL). The source code is available on

You can download the latest version 0.5.2

the Windows installer (31 MB)
the Windows Zip file (39 MB) or the same thing in a 7z file (26 MB)
the source code (449 KB) to run it on any Unix-like OS. It depends on python 3 and pyqt 5.

Translators welcome

If you're willing to translate this little program into your language, go to the forum where you'll find more details about this.

and also with a sheet of paper

Go to the generator page and choose the anzan tab to get an XLS file with anzan exercises.

and also in your browser

You can now practice anzan in your browser (being mobile or not) with the following dedicated page. There is a range of options to customize your anzan practice. You can choose the language used by the speech synthesis. And don't forget to go full screen on mobile for a better experience (the link is in the menu bar).