Maya Number System

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Name: STUDENT REPRODUCIBLE (Page 1) Maya Number System The Maya number system is very different from the system you use daily—the Maya used only three symbols to represent all numbers! They used a dot to represent 1, a line to represent 5, and a shell to represent 0. The Maya wrote their numbers vertically and used zero as a placeholder. Many believe that the Maya were the first people to use a symbol for zero. The Maya used a place value system based on 20s, not 10s like the number system we use today. So the place values were multiples of 20s: 1s, 20s (20x1), 400s (20x20), 8,000s (20x400), and so on. HERE’S HOW IT WORKED: Numbers 1 through 4 were written using a row of dots. The number 5 was written as a horizontal line. Numbers 6 through 19 were written using a combination of lines and dots, or 5s and 1s. For example: • 6 was written as one line with one dot above it: (5+1) • 10 was written using two lines: (5+5) • 19 was written as three stacked lines with a row of four dots on top of them: (5+5+5+1+1+1+1) MAYA NUMERALS 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 Name: STUDENT REPRODUCIBLE (Page 2) For numbers greater than 19, the symbols were arranged vertically in place values, with the greatest value on top. Each place value was 20 times greater than the one that came before it. Look at the examples below. • 303 was written as three lines in the 20s place, and 8,000 three dots in the 1s place: ((5+5+5) x 20) + (1+1+1) 400 • 420 was written with one dot in the 400s place, one dot in the 20s place, and one shell in the 1s place: 20 (1x400) + (1x20) + (0x1) Maya Place Values 1 • 4,008 was written as two lines in the 400s place, one shell in the 20s place, and three dots above a line in Value of Number 303 420 4,008 the 1s place: (10x400) + (0x20) + (8x1) PART ONE: Find the solution to each PART TWO: To ﬁ nd the value of greater Maya numbers, multiply the value of the Maya equation below. Write your answers using numeral by the value of its place. Then add the values together. Calculate the value of the Maya numerals. Maya numbers presented below. + = 8,000 400 x = 20 + = Maya Place Values 1 – = Value of Number.

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Arxiv:1601.03132V7 [Math.HO] 15 Nov 2018 [2]
Solution of the Mayan Calendar Enigma Thomas Chanier1∗ 1Independent researcher, 1025 12th avenue, Coralville, Iowa 52241, USA The Mayan calendar is proposed to derive from an arithmetical model of naked-eye astronomy. The Palenque and Copan lunar equations, used during the Maya Classic period (200 to 900 AD) are solution of the model and the results are expressed as a function of the Xultun numbers, four enigmatic Long Count numbers deciphered in the Maya ruins of Xultun, dating from the IX century AD, providing strong arguments in favor of the use of the model by the Maya. The different Mayan Calendar cycles can be derived from this model and the position of the Calendar Round at the mythical date of creation 13(0).0.0.0.0 4 Ahau 8 Cumku is calculated. This study shows the high proficiency of Mayan mathematics as applied to astronomy and timekeeping for divinatory purposes.a I. INTRODUCTION In the Calendar Round, a date is represented by αXβY with the religious month 1 ≤ α ≤ 13, X one of the 20 Mayan priests-astronomers were known for their astro- religious days, the civil day 0 ≤ β ≤ 19, and Y one of the nomical and mathematical proficiency, as demonstrated 18 civil months, 0 ≤ β ≤ 4 for the Uayeb. Fig. 1 shows a in the Dresden Codex, a XIV century AD bark-paper contemporary representation of the Calendar Round as book containing accurate astronomical almanacs aiming a set of three interlocking wheels: the Tzolk'in, formed to correlate ritual practices with astronomical observa- by a 13-month and a 20-day wheels and the Haab'.
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