The Mayans have been a very advanced and full-culture people, undoubtedly one of the great world civilizations.One of the highlights of the Mayas was their breakthrough in mathematics.we will tell you how it was his fascinating numbering system and how the Mayan numbers are written.Next in History Today Online, the Mayan Numbering System and the Mayan numbers.
Located mainly in the southern territory of Mexico and Guatemala , the Mayas were a town of great importance for the history of America , and the world in general.They have developed a very rich culture in different environments, such as architecture, astronomy a, and especially in mathematics.His number system , developed independently from the rest of the world was very advanced and complex.So much so that they even had the notion of Zero , something that to Europe, for example, just arrived from the hand of the Hindus.
Index of the article
The numbering system of the Maya
The writing system of this civilization was called by specialists as hieroglyphics , for having a vague similar with the writing used in Ancient Egypt .
It was a combination of phonetic symbols and ideograms, being a very hard work to be able to decipher its content.Added to this, the small amount of Mayan writing documents is also considered, because shortly after the conquest a, the Spanish priests ordered the burning of all the Maya books.
As for the numbering system and the Mayan numbers itself, it should be noted that the Maya invented a numbering system as an instrument mode to measure time and not to make mathematical calculations, unlike many other civilizations.Thus, Mayan numbers are directly related with the days, months and years, being these organizers of the maya calendar that is also well known, not only due to its many legends but also one of the first calendars (next to the Roman) that They know each other.
As you anticipate In the beginning, the Mayans had a highly developed mathematical knowledge.They were the first peoples in the world to discover and use the number zero , having historical sources close to the year 200 AD in which their use can be verified In addition, the Mayas were the first civilization that developed a positional system.This is, a mathematical system in which the value of a figure varies according to its position (we will explain more in detail later).
How the Mayan numbers are written
- In the Mayan numbering there were only three symbols to represent the numbers, although these forms varied according to use: some were for monuments, others for codices and others they were human representations.
- The three basic symbols were the point, whose value is one; the line, whose value is five; and the snail (some authors describe it as a shell or seed), whose value is zero.By combining these symbols the numbers from 0 to 20 were obtained, as you can see in the image at the beginning of the article.This is how the system of Mayan numbering the quantities are grouped from 20 to 20.Hence it is called vigesimal system because it is based on the number 20.
- Now we will see as the numbers from 21 onwards are written. As we have said, the system is positional and the value of a number varied according to the vertical position it occupies in a number .On the lower level are the numerals, which are the numbers from 0 to 20.At the top level any number that is placed is worth this figure multiplied by 20.Here we see the example of the number 25.
- How do you read this? The bottom is 5 (one line equals 5), and the upper one equals 20 (the point equals 1 and is multiplied by 20 by being in the 2nd level).
- When the 3rd level is used, the figure located there multiply x 400 (20 x 20).When the 4th level is used, the figure located there a is multiplied by 8000 (20 x 20 x 20).Here you will find 3 examples of how to write this type of number.
Curiosities about the Mayan numbering system
The Maya devised this system more than 2,000 years.The first numbering tests of this culture are believed to date back hundreds of years BC
On the other hand, the Maya are the first culture that I represent in America the number 0 .That is, somehow, the Maya already understood the concept of "zero" and "nothing."
The Maya did not invent this numerical system to perform mathematical operations, but to measure time .Therefore, most symbols found in archaeological remains They are headed for me diction of time and its division into fractions.
The vigesimal system used by the Maya is considered one of the most precise ever created.In fact, it is believed that the accuracy of the Mayan calendar was greater than that of the Gregorian calendar and as accurate as current measurement systems are.
While it is true that the Maya used this numbering system primarily to measure time, it is also true that they performed , thanks in part to them, numerous advances in mathematics, geometry or astrology .
It is proven that the Maya were able to understand the concept of square, rectangular triangle, Circumference and circle and they knew how to measure the angles.In addition, they had notion of many other geometric figures and volumes and were able to measure them.For example, the pyramid.By the way, it should be noted that the Mayan numbering system we have talked about This article is not the only one that the Mayan.To know even more about other Mayan numbering systems, go to the next epigraph.
Another Mayan numbering system
As if that were not enough, this was not the only numbering system maya, but they had a second way of representing numbers.In this case it was about representing them by means of glyphs.This numbering system is known as "head" numbering system , because the numbers they are represented with the heads of different divinities.The system is also vigesimal and takes as main number 20.
However, the number of deities that can be represented are only 14 , so they would only arrive to cover the numbers from 0 to 13 How to cover the remaining 6 numbers until 19? Very simple, the part of the chin of the deity number of 10 is placed under the numbers 4 to 9 to obtain from numbers 14 to 19.Anyway, this system was not the usual one within of the Mayans and most of the towns that confirmed this culture used the method of the dots, the stripes and the shell.
Without a doubt, the Mayan civilization is a fascinating culture, ahead of its time, which are still unknown, and may be forever too many things.Its advances in mathematics and in the numbering system were prodigious, to the point of overcoming almost everything seen in other contemporary civilizations.
The fate of the Mayan numbering system
The collapse of the Mayan civilization , whose end dates around the 8th and 9th centuries of our era, is one of the great mysteries of the History of Humanity.The progressive abandonment and disappearance of the great Mayan centers , which had become huge cities with a large population and headquarters of outstanding cultural advances, still does not have an explanation that has managed to convince most historians.
The different hypotheses that experts have given to justify such abandonment (such as the possibility of having suffered some kind of attack or invasion that would have ended his civilization , that it had there was some natural disaster or the hypothesis that the depletion of resources forced the population to migrate to more fertile lands, among many other theories), unprovable to date, have only increased existing questions about this event.However, what did this collapse mean for the impressive mathematical culture developed by the Maya?
As we have seen in the previous lines, the Mayan mathematical system was one of the more advanced of the time, far exceeding the knowledge they had about it in the Europe of the time.However, we cannot say that their heritage has survived through the centuries.When the Spaniards first arrived in the Yucatan area to At the beginning of the 16th century, centuries ago the collapse of the Mayan civilization had taken place, so the contact of Europeans with this culture was reduced to marvel at the remains that One of his enormous buildings remained.
His mathematical inheritance was collected by other towns that were established by their same geographical space, especially by the Aztecs, who also stood out for the use of the mathematics and its application religious field.However, its system varied in many questions from that applied by the Maya, because they did not use zero and their representations were pictorial rather than by dots and dashes, although the influence of the Maya is seen in some aspects, as in its base, which is also vigesimal.However, its system, less exact and profound than that of the Maya, never reached its fame and relevance.
The end of the Aztec civilization and the introduction of European culture in America ended with the remains of the Mayan culture who had stood the test of time.The remains that we have left The knowledge of the Mayan number system is as scarce as it is valuable, including the famous Dresden Codice, the oldest known book from America and where a section dedicated to the calendar and numerals used by the Maya appears, the famous Codice de Madrid , the Codice de Paris and the still controversial Codice Grolier.
But to decipher the aforementioned codices, a work created in the 16th century by the missionary Don Diego de Landa, who arrived in America and lived in America, was fundamental Close contact with the inhabitants of the Yucatan Peninsula during the first years of the Conquest.Don Diego de Landa published a book entitled Relationship of the things of Yucatan in 1566, where a record of the ways of life, beliefs and customs of the inhabitants of the area in the early sixteenth century.In this same book there is a section dedicated to the Mayan alphabet, which has been vital to decipher the characters res of the Mayan manuscripts and, therefore, also the explanations related to their numerical system, preventing their memory from being lost for centuries to come.
In the video you will find below you will see a clear explanation of how Mayan numbers are formed. We hope we have helped you understand this very interesting Mayan numbering system .
Video of Mayan numbers
We also recommend reading Egyptian numbers, Roman numerals, Greek numbers
Video about Mayan mathematics
In this other video you can see and hear about how advanced Mayan mathematics were for your time, and for having been developed independently from the rest of the world:
Bibliography:
- The Maya of EducaRed Spain
- Inscriptions on Mayan monuments by Ronaldo Alaniz Serrano ISBN: 968-856-554-7
Comments
Post a Comment