The Mayan Number System: Fourth Century

|The Mayan Number System |
|The Mayan number system dates back to the fourth century and was approximately 1,000 years more advanced than the Europeans of that |
|time. This system is unique to our current decimal system, which has a base 10, in that the Mayan's used a vigesimal system, which |
|had a base 20. This system is believed to have been used because, since the Mayan's lived in such a warm climate and there was rarely|
|a need to wear shoes, 20 was the total number of fingers and toes, thus making the system workable. Therefore two important markers |
|in this system are 20, which relates to the fingers and toes, and five, which
|Mayan |
|Numbers |
|Place Value |
|Decimal Value |
| |
|[pic] |
|1 times 160,000 |
|= 160,000 |
|