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The equation "5 + 8 = 13" written with Maya numerals == Licensing ==Maya Mathematics Instead of ten digits like we have today, the Maya used a base number of 20. (Base 20 is vigesimal.) They also used a system of bar and dot as "shorthand" for counting. A dot stood for one and a bar stood for five. In the following table, you can see how this works. 0 1 2 3 4
5 6 7 8 9
10 11 12 13 14
15 16 17 18 19
Because the base of the number system was 20, larger numbers were written down in powers of 20. We do that in our decimal system too: for example 32 is 3*10+2. In the Maya system, this would be 1*20+12, because they used 20 as base.
Numbers were written from bottom to top. Below you can see how the number 32 was written:
20's (1) 1's (12)
It was very easy to add and subtract using this number system, but they did not use fractions. Here's an example of a simple addiMaya Mathematics Instead of ten digits like we have today, the Maya used a base number of 20. (Base 20 is vigesimal.) They also used a system of bar and dot as "shorthand" for counting. A dot stood for one and a bar stood for five. In the following table, you can see how this works. 0 1 2 3 4
5 6 7 8 9
10 11 12 13 14
15 16 17 18 19
Because the base of the number system was 20, larger numbers were written down in powers of 20. We do that in our decimal system too: for example 32 is 3*10+2. In the Maya system, this would be 1*20+12, because they used 20 as base.
Numbers were written from bottom to top. Below you can see how the number 32 was written:
20's (1) 1's (12)
It was very easy to add and subtract using this number system, but they did not use fractions. Here's an example of a simple addition:
8000's 400's 20's + = 1's
9449 + 10425 = 19874
As you can see, adding is just a matter of adding up dots and bars! Maya merchants often used cocoa beans, which they layed out on the ground, to do these calculations.
If you have a Java-enabled browser, you will see an interactive number converter below. Fill in the a number in the top field, and press return to find its Maya equivalent.. Press +1 and -1 to change the number by one.
tion:
8000's 400's 20's + = 1's
9449 + 10425 = 19874
As you can see, adding is just a matter of adding up dots and bars! Maya merchants often used cocoa beans, which they layed out on the ground, to do these calculations.
If you have a Java-enabled browser, you will see an interactive number converter below. Fill in the a number in the top field, and press return to find its Maya equivalent.. Press +1 and -1 to change the number by one.
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| Date/Time | Dimensions | User | Comment | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| current | 22:06, 6 December 2006 | 400×94 (3 KB) | Mdsats (Talk | contribs) | (The equation "5 + 8 = 13" written with Maya numerals) |
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