5th Grade Maya Math

Ms. Jackett’s 5th grade class practiced Maya Math this week.

The Maya were advanced mathematicians, and one of the first societies to successfully incorporate the concept of zero into their calculations. Unlike our own culture, which bases its numbering system on the numeral ten (likely because of the ten fingers on human hands), the Maya developed a system
based upon the number 20 (fingers and toes). Numerals were represented by a series of dots (1 dot = 1) and bars (1 bar = 5) stacked vertically on top of one another. When the number reached twenty, a dot was moved into a second place value (analogous to our “tens” position), situated directly above the original number. Zero was represented most often by a shell.