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Mayan Number System
Last updated at November 25, 2025 by Teachoo
Class 8 (Ganita Prakash & Old NCERT)
Chapter 3 Class 8 - A Story of Numbers (Ganita Prakash)
- Introduction
- The Mechanism of Counting
- Some Early Number Systems
- Roman Numerals
- Figure it out - Page 60, 61
- Egyptian Number System
- Variations on the Egyptian System and the Notion of Base
- Adding Egyptian Numerals
- Multiplying Egyptian Numerals
- Distributive Law – For Egyptian Numerals
- Abacus that Makes Use of the Decimal System
- Shortcomings of the Egyptian System
- Figure it out - Page 69
- Mesopotamian Number System
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Mayan Number System
- Chinese Number System
- Hindu Number System
- Evolution of Ideas in Number Representation
- Figure it out - Page 80
Transcript
Mayan Number SystemThe Mayan civilization (Central America) developed a fascinating number system that was distinct from the ones in Asia or Europe. It was Base-20 (vigesimal), likely because ancient people counted with both their fingers and toes (10 + 10 = 20). But, there’s a "twist" used by the Mayans, often connected to their calendars. Instead of a pure Base-20 system (1, 20, 400...), they changed the third landmark number. The Landmark Numbers (Place Values) The Mayan system is written vertically (from bottom to top). Bottom Level: The 1s place. Second Level: The 20s place. Third Level: The 360s place (20 × 18). Note: In a pure math system this would be 400, but for calendars, they used 360 to approximate the days in a year. Fourth Level: The 7,200s place (202 × 18). The Symbols They used only three simple symbols to write any number: Dot (• ): Represents 1 Bar (—): Represents 5 Shell ( ): Represents 0 (The Placeholder) Numbers from 1 to 19 are built by stacking dots and bars. For example, 17 is written as 3 bars and 2 dots (5+5+5+2). Numbers 1 to 19 in Mayan Number System
