Mathematics

MATHEMATICS
To begin, the most important thing the Maya needed to be as successful as they were in creating new technologies, like the calendar and spiritual predictions, was their development of a number system. The Mayan number system is one of the earliest advanced forms of arithmetic of our world's prehistory. It was a vigesimal system, or a based twenty system, meaning the number "20" was like a standard unit. The reason behind the significance of 20 had to do with the ancient people counting on both their fingers and their toes. Our system today is a decimal system which increases in value from right to left with a base of ten. We adopted this system from the Hindus. The Mayan system increases from top to bottom in vertical columns and is vigesimal. This means the first and lowest place has a value of one, the next place a value of twenty, the next 400, then 1600, and so on. [1][2]

The Maya only operated with three symbols: the dot for one, the bar for five, and a stylized shell for nought (Figure 1). The combination of dots, lines, and shells made up the numbers of the system. The dots were representations of seeds, beans, or small rocks. The lines or bars which represented an open hand, and the symbol for 0, was a shell or a closed hand. They were the first people to make a symbol for the number "0" and give it any significant value. Different combinations of these dots and bars make up the Mayan numerical system. Along with the number "20", numbers "4" and "5" are just as important in the system. In marketplaces where Mayan descendants live the number 5 is represented by a bar or an "open hand". A "hand" is like a unit of of purchase, like a hand of oranges (five oranges) or hand of cacao beans. The number "4" is important because four hands make what they call a "person". Four multiplied by five equals twenty, the same total of fingers and toes and person has. The number "20" is represented by a shell with a dot right above it (Figure 2). [1][2][3]

So with this new system, what kinds of calculations were made and for what reason?
Many merchants used the system to calculate exchange, especially those dealing in cacao. An interesting note is most calculations were done on the ground or a flat surface to sort of lay out the beans and sticks, so both parties could clearly see what the proper payment was (Figure 3). Although useful for trade, the Mayans main reason for their arithmetic was for their calendar predictions. Having such an involved calendar caused them to offer a lot of variation to their system. For example, after the first two places of one, and twenty, the third place was called a "tun" or 360. This is similar to the amount of days in a solar year. With the development of their Long Count calendar, the Maya deemed it necessary to construct a table of multiples, also known as the Dresden Codex (Figure 4). An example of of this would be a table of multiples of the nearest whole numbers approximating to one quarter of a year (13,52,65,78,91). The Maya wanted to reach equations of cycles in which all numbers were integers, so fractions are no where to be found in their system. [3]



Further Readings Related to this Topic: Maya Trade: Max Seidita East Asia Technology: Philip Restall Europe Technology: David Joy

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// Sources // Lara-Alecio, Rafael; Irby, Beverly J.; Morales-Aldana, Leonel. //A Mathematics Lesson from the Maya//. Teaching Children Mathematics, Nov. 1998, Vol. 5 Issue 3, p154. <[]> [1]

O'Connor, J.J., Robertson, E.F. //Mayan Mathematics//. JOC/EFR, Nov. 2000. <[]> [2]

D. Coe, Michael. __The Maya__. 8th ed. New York: Thames & Hudson, 2011. Print. [3]

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