Mayan & Aztec Math
📋 What it is
The Maya used base-20 with just three symbols — a dot (1), a bar (5), and a shell for ZERO.
🗣️ Coach says
Across the ocean, the Maya built a base-20 (vigesimal) system — counting in twenties, likely from fingers AND toes. Remarkably, they had a symbol for ZERO (a shell) centuries before it reached Europe. With only a dot, a bar, and a shell they wrote enormous calendar numbers. It shows zero was discovered more than once.
🧠 Memory hook
Maya = base-20. Dot = 1, bar = 5, shell = 0. They had zero early and independently.
😂 Giggle
Why did the Roman student fail math?
Because they kept telling her "I" is always 1, "V" is always 5, and she could never subtract properly!
😲 Whoa!
The Maya tracked astronomical cycles thousands of years long using this three-symbol system — no calculator required.
✅ Quick check: In the Mayan system, a bar is worth 5 and a dot is worth 1. What is "one bar and three dots"?
Say your answer out loud first — then reveal.
8 (5 + 1 + 1 + 1).
You add a bar (5) to three dots (3) to get 8.
🪄 Trick question: Did a symbol for zero only ever appear in one part of the world?
Careful — think it through, then reveal.
No — the Maya invented a zero independently, as did India; zero was discovered more than once.
Multiple cultures arrived at zero separately, showing it is a natural mathematical idea.
🧪 Try it! (2 minutes)
Write the numbers 6, 12 and 19 using only dots (1) and bars (5), Mayan-style. Guess each before you draw.