Report on the Mayan Countin

1. The Mayans had a number system consisting of shells, dots, and lines. You
could write up to nineteen with just these symbols. The Maya were one of
the only ancient civilizations that understood the concept of zero. This
allowed them to write very large numbers.
Would mean 0
Would mean 1
Would mean 5
Maya Numbers 0-19
0 1 2 3
4 5 6 7
8 9 10 11
12 13 14 15
16 17 18 19
The numbers from 20 on are the same symbols but they'd be 20 times what
they really represent just add 0 after it. Using this system you can write up
to 399.

2. 20
100
1. = ____________ 6. = ____________
2. = ____________ 7. = ____________
3. = ____________ 8. = ____________
4. = ____________ 9. = ____________
5. = ____________ 10. = ____________
Answer key:1. = 2 6. = 4 2. = 7 7. = 9 3. = 15 8. = 5 4. = 11 9. = 6 5. = 16
10. = 0
To write 20 a zero is placed in the bottom with a dot on top of it, in the second position, the dot in this
place means one unit of the second order which equals to 20. To write 21, the zero would change to a
dot (1 unit) and for the subsequent numbers the original 19 number count will follow in the first
position. As they in turn reach 19 again another unit (dot) is added to the second position. Any number
higher than 19 units in the second position is written using units of the third position. A unit of the third
position is worth 400 (20 x 20), so to write 401 a dot goes in the first position, a zero in the second and a
dot in the third. Positions higher than the third also grow multiplied by twenties from the previous ones.
Examples of the numbers mentioned above follow:

3. Resources
http://www.math.wichita.edu/history/
topics/num-sys.html#mayan