[Previous Snapshot | Contents | Next Snapshot]

The Mesoamerican Number System

The people of Mesoamerica, a region in Central America, developed a vigesimal (base twenty) number system using only three symbols a shell-like symbol representing 0, a dot representing 1, and a line representing 5. This system dates from around 1200 BCE. This is long before the origin of the Hindu-Arabic decimal (base ten) system of numbers we use today originated in India about 500 CE.

Symbol Representing zero one five

0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19

Numbers from 0 to 19 were written with additive combinations of the three symbols.

Numbers larger than 19 are written using a vertical positional system, with the bottom level being units, the 2nd level 20s, the 3rd level 400s, the 4th level 8,000s and so on up by powers of twenty.

8000s       400s     20s Units   20 65 806 10,971 40,329

For example: 10,971 = (1)(8000) + (7)(400) + (8)(20) + 11

References

• Ortiz-Franco, L. (1993). Chicanos Have Math in Their Blood: Pre-Columbian Mathematics. Radical Teacher, 43, 10-14.
• Joseph, G. (1991). Crest of the Peacock: Non-European Roots of Mathematics. London: I.B. Taurus.

[Previous Snapshot | Contents | Next Snapshot]