Resumen

DescripciónMaya add.png	English: The equation "5 + 8 equal 13" written with Maya numerals
Fecha	6 de diciembre de 2006 (fecha original de carga)
Fuente	Transferido desde en.wikipedia a Commons por Trixt usando CommonsHelper.
Autor	Mdsats de Wikipedia en inglés
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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 laid 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 laid 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.

Licencia

Este trabajo ha sido liberado al dominio público por su autor, Mdsats de Wikipedia en inglés. Esto aplica para todo el mundo. En algunos países esto puede no ser legalmente factible; si ello ocurriese: Mdsats otorga a cualquier persona el derecho de usar este trabajo para cualquier propósito, sin ningún tipo de condición, a menos que éstas sean requeridas por la ley.Public domainPublic domainfalsefalse

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