The Magical Mathematical World of the Ancient Mayans


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Mayan numbers are a numbering system used by the ancient Mayans of Central and South America. The mathematical peculiarity of Maya numeration is the writing of numbers in base 20 (called vicesimal or vigesimal base) contrary to the writing in base 10 usual nowadays. How to write Maya numbers?


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The Mayan and other Mesoamerican cultures used a vigesimal number system based on base 20, (and, to some extent, base 5), probably originally developed from counting on fingers and toes. The numerals consisted of only three symbols: zero, represented as a shell shape; one, a dot; and five, a bar.


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The Maya numeral system was the system to represent numbers and calendar dates in the Maya civilization. It was a vigesimal (base-20) positional numeral system. The numerals are made up of three symbols: zero (a shell ), [1] one (a dot) and five (a bar).


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The Mayan culture used a base 20 20 number system. It was an additive positional system that used two symbols, a dot for one, a horizontal bar for five, and a cowry shell for a place holder (it is unclear whether they also considered it a true numeric "zero''). Numbers were written vertically with the most significant digit at the top.


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The Mayan Number System. Instead, we will focus on the numeration system of the "common" people, which used a more consistent base system. As we stated earlier, the Mayans used a base−20 system, called the "vigesimal" system. Like our system, it is positional, meaning that the position of a numeric symbol indicates its place value.


The Magical Mathematical World of the Ancient Mayans

The most common number system used today is called the base-ten system. It has 10 digits (0-9) that can be combined to write any number. The Mayan system used base 20 so it had 20 distinct numerals.


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The Mayan numeral system was the system to represent numbers and calendar dates in the Maya civilization. It was a vigesimal (base-20) positional numeral system. The numerals are made up of three symbols; zero (shell shape, with the plastron uppermost), one (a dot) and five (a bar).


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What this means, is that in a vigesimal notation the number "2,000", for example, would be "five counts of four-hundred" whereas it is literally "two counts of one thousand" in the decimal system. The Maya would say ho' bak' ("five four-hundred"). The result, though, is the same: 2×1000 = 5×400 = 2000.


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The Mayan Numbers uses a 20 base system, called the vigesimal number system. Just as our own ten based numeric system was probably used because we have 10 fingers on our hands, the Mayan numeric system was probably based on the number of fingers on both the hands and feet.


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The Maya used a base 20 (vigesimal) numerical system, unlike our current base 10 or the Babylonian base 60 system that we still use for time-keeping. Consequently, instead of counting, as we do, in multiples of 1, 10, 100, and so on (10 raised to the power of 0, 1, and 2, respectively), the Maya counted in 1s, 20s, 400s, and so on (20 raised to.


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The Mayan number system is basically a vigesimal number system which means that it uses 20 as its base. The use of 20 as base is also found in later civilisations such as the Aztecs. However, the number system of the Mayans was a bit more complex in that they used base 5 within the base 20.


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Mayan base-20 numerical system. For numbers less than 20, Mayans made use of the above-mentioned numerical symbols. But for numbers exceeding 20, a different representation was used. 20 itself became a unit in its own being and was represented by a dot. The difference between a regular dot and a dot representing 20 was that the latter was.


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1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 0 1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,0 Now, the fact that 10 is usually also the number of fingers in your hands 🖐🖐 is not a coincidence! Base-10 makes counting on your hands easier. However, many other bases exist.


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The Mayan and Babylonian systems shared two features, one of which we are familiar with (place value) and one that we don't use (repeated symbols). The Roman system of numbers used repeated symbols, but does not employ a place value. It also lacks a 0. The Roman system is built on the following symbols in Table 4.3.


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The Mayan Number System. Instead, we will focus on the numeration system of the "common" people, which used a more consistent base system. As we stated earlier, the Mayans used a base-20 system, called the "vigesimal" system. Like our system, it is positional, meaning that the position of a numeric symbol indicates its place value.


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The Mayan Number System Centered around a vigesimal system (a.k.a. base 20), the Mayan method of numbering was likely developed from the tendency to count using fingers and toes, and was one of the many base 20 methods that cropped up in the history of other Mesoamerican cultures.