Mayan Numbers

Basics

. . . . . . . .9 10

19

1 2 3 4

5 6 7 8

Zero & Place Values

20 400 8000

Place values

1’s

20’s

400’s

8000’s 8000

2800

40

6+

10846

Addition

+ =

Eight-teen Rabbit and Six Sky want to buy a new ball at the market. A ball

costs cacao beans, Eight-teen Rabbit has cacao beans and Six Sky has cacao beans, together do they have enough cacao

beans to buy a new ball?

+ =

918 3603 4521

Subtraction

-

450 121

=

329

Codices “We found a large number of books in these characters and, as they

contained nothing in which there were not to be seen superstition and lies of the devil, we burned them all…” - Friar Diego de Landa

Four Codices Madrid Codex – 22 feet long contains horoscopes and almanacs. Paris Codex – Mayan religion and zodiac, is in poor condition. Grolier Codex – fragmented, seems to be dedicated to the cycles of

Venus. Dresden Codex – is in best condition although some damage was

sustained during World War II

Dresden Codex

11½ ft. long and contains 74 folios with text and paintings in bright colors. 1-15: almanacs and astrology 16-23: dedicated to the Moon Goddess 25-28: details new year ceremonies 29-45: agricultural almanacs 46-50: plot the cycles of Venus stretching back 300 years 61-73: are annual flood and storm recordings 74: deals with the end of the current world cycle

Strictly business in terms of mathematics. Invaluable in the deciphering of the Mayan written system.

Dresden Codex

Yuri Valentinovich Knorosov

Tatiana Proskouriakoff

The Calendar Round The basic unit was the K’in or day Each K’in was its own entity and had to be properly worshiped. The Tzolk’in or Sacred Calendar

260 days Made up of two calendars that fit together like the gears of a

clock The first gear was a count from 1 to 13 The second gear was a series of 20 glyphs representing the god

to be worshiped. The Haab or vague year

365 days 18 months each with 20 days One 5 day month known as Wayeb was considered unlucky and

dangerous

Long Count Calendar Start date 0.0.0.0.0 (August 13,

3114 B.C.) 20 k’ins = 1 winal (0.0.0.1.0)

20 day 18 winals = 1 tun (0.0.1.0.0)

360 days 20 tuns = 1 k’atun (0.1.0.0.0)

7200 days 20 k’atuns = 1 b’ak’tun (1.0.0.0.0)

144,000 days 13 b’ak’tuns = new era of creation

(13.0.0.0.0) 1,872,000 days

1,872,000 – 1,870,302 = 1,698 days until the next creation event.

1’s

20’s

360’s

7200’s

144000’s 1728000

136800

5400

100

2

12.19.15.5.2(05/08/2008)