Aztec Mathematics

http://2012forum.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=20&t=2701

The people of the Aztec Empire were an ethic group in central Mexico who dominated from 1325-1521 AD. Their language Nahuatl is still spoken today in the mountains of Mexico.

https://qed.princeton.edu/getfile.php?f=Aztec_Empire_c._1519.png

The Aztec civilization built large pyramids and complex cities. Their capital city Tenochtitlan was built on the site of today’s Mexico City. They were conquered by Cortez in 1521.

http://www.d.umn.edu/cla/faculty/troufs/anth3618/maaztec.html

http://www.ancientscripts.com/aztec.html

Additive number system: just add up the value of the glyphs.

Notation: glyphs included a dot, flag, feather and bag of incense

The Aztec used a base 20 system.

Face values Each notation has a face value: 1, 20, 400, 8000

Place value

There are NO place values; this is not a positional system. You just add up the values of the pictures you see.

2009 would be written as

Remember, each feather has a face value of 400, each dot has a face value of 1. There are no place values, so this system has no expanded form. All together, the symbols add up to 2009.

Now you try one!

References

Aztec. Retrieved January 10, 2010, from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aztec

Aztec Daily Life. Retrieved January 10, 2010, from http://atschool.eduweb.co.uk/nettsch/time/alife.html

Kellermeier, J. (2009). Aztec Tribute Record Numerals. Retrieved January 10, 2010, from http://www.tacomacc.edu/home/jkellerm/EthnomathematicsText/Chapter2/2.5AztecNumerals.htm

Siddiqui, A. (2004). Aztec Number System. Retrieved January 10, 2010, from http://www.math.temple.edu/~zit/Native%20American/9%20Aztecs_num.pdf