Abstract—The Mayan civilization is mostly famous for their architecture, but also made great contributions to various different subject areas. Many of the discoveries made by this civilization were thanks to their understanding and knowledge of various mathematical concepts. In this paper we travel back to the basics of Mayan mathematics. We explore their number system, how to express different numerals and how it was used to perform simple arithmetic such as addition and subtraction.
Index Terms— Addition, Number System, Subtraction, Vigesimal
Introduction
The beginning of the Mayans and their true origins are still a mystery for many, but the impact of their civilization is evident. Most of their time was dedicated to the construction …show more content…
When they wanted to add two numbers together, the symbols representing each numeral would be placed side by side. In order to carry out the addition, Mayans had to be careful and remember certain rules. First of all, whenever five dots were together, they would have to be replaced by a bar. Whenever they had five bars, they would have to be replaced by a dot on the next level since five bars would give a value of 20. The Mayan addition procedures were very similar to the steps that we take when adding numbers in our $#$#0$#$# number system. In our case, we carry once we reach 10, but Mayans did so every time they reached …show more content…
This civilization was capable of creating their own vigesimal number system using three different symbols: a dot, a bar and a shell. To make it work, they created their own place value using a base of 20 and by doing so, proved to have great knowledge of the concepts of addition, multiplication and exponents. Besides this, with their vigesimal number system set, the Mayans were then able to use it to perform simple arithmetic. By placing two numerals side by side, they would indicate addition and then they would perform it by joining similar symbols together. When necessary, they would perform grouping by replacing symbols and once all groupings were done, they could calculate their final answer. Similar procedures were done when subtracting, but instead of grouping, they would borrow from other symbols when
Index Terms— Addition, Number System, Subtraction, Vigesimal
Introduction
The beginning of the Mayans and their true origins are still a mystery for many, but the impact of their civilization is evident. Most of their time was dedicated to the construction …show more content…
When they wanted to add two numbers together, the symbols representing each numeral would be placed side by side. In order to carry out the addition, Mayans had to be careful and remember certain rules. First of all, whenever five dots were together, they would have to be replaced by a bar. Whenever they had five bars, they would have to be replaced by a dot on the next level since five bars would give a value of 20. The Mayan addition procedures were very similar to the steps that we take when adding numbers in our $#$#0$#$# number system. In our case, we carry once we reach 10, but Mayans did so every time they reached …show more content…
This civilization was capable of creating their own vigesimal number system using three different symbols: a dot, a bar and a shell. To make it work, they created their own place value using a base of 20 and by doing so, proved to have great knowledge of the concepts of addition, multiplication and exponents. Besides this, with their vigesimal number system set, the Mayans were then able to use it to perform simple arithmetic. By placing two numerals side by side, they would indicate addition and then they would perform it by joining similar symbols together. When necessary, they would perform grouping by replacing symbols and once all groupings were done, they could calculate their final answer. Similar procedures were done when subtracting, but instead of grouping, they would borrow from other symbols when