The Maya Base-20 Number System

Examine the sophisticated base 20 system developed by the ancient Maya, which included a value for zero.

[@PopeLando]

3:20 This counting animation isn't completely right, because the dots were actually placed symmetrically, especially when over bars. 6 is a bar with a dot over the middle; 7 is a bar with a dot on the left and a dot on the right; 8 adds the third dot in the centre. They didn't appear from the left like this shows.

[@axion986]

Truly incredible. I didn't know they had a symbol for zero, It opens the door for much larger numbers. No wonder they were able to map out the stars.

[@pallavib1515]

0 Was a shell

[@dizzone]

Wow, this was a very interesting video and it made me realize how much I suck at math.

[@lumajs]

This is an absolutely natural system. An intelligent listener really needs some 5 seconds to understand it. It is about as effective as our system - but needs fewer independent characters. If the numbers were rotated by 90 degrees, to agree with the positioning in our decimal system, this system could even be used right away and typed using rather ordinary keyboards.

[@aoeu256]

It is not only natural it is actually better and more efficient... languimmersion.appspot.com/maya

[@timo3881]

lumajs iii

[@330MillionGods]

mayan system is confusing. 1 to 4 are represented just the dots ?.. It can get very confusing and prone to errors.

[@mynameisjeff869]

@@330MillionGods I don't think so, it's really simple. I don't know why it is prone to error, you just need to write right number of dots. That's not that confusing.

[@knightyknightakapro8244]

to me its very confusing

[@Brownkevin7]

Dooope I'm of mayan decent and study math so this makes me happy, especially since now I know my people's number system.

[@amenazaplatano7000]

What group?

[@gasparmxm]

I'm a mayan decendant too, my mom is maya from Quintana Roo's Tulum, and i'm very good at math.

[@jari2018]

and west uses the 5000 year old sumerian clockcycle based on the 60 system - I wonder what else is out there to discover - could maya numerals have competition in south america

[@Aieshoo]

No one mentions these people in history books.

[@billcivicsff6808]

Aieshoo 1234 they love to hate us

[@paulinotou]

Not much is known about pre-Cortez Central America. The Mayans at this point were a remanence of what they were during their classical era, the Aztecs were the sheriffs of town. Olmecs are even more mysterious. But any American school system worth their salt would have talked about American tribes in 6th grade. Not as much detail as one would probably want but definitely more than we talked about Africa.

[@citrusblast4372]

Its a shame how detached they were from the rest of the world. No relationships was able to be built thus creating the indifference we see

[@luismanuelpotencianonorato9672]

In México nos enseñaron eso.

[@Lavasalsa1]

There are whole chapters in Susan Bowers “Story of the World” history book series

[@aaronjennings8385]

The "shell" that represents 0 is a closed hand. Make a fist. Look at the palm side of the fist. Zero is represented by a closed hand.

[@bluewolf77447]

Brilliant Analysis! Thank You

[@crazydave711slave]

Amazing video, well done.

[@SaveYourSundays]

Great video. Will be very helpful for my class. Thanks for sharing

[@ionian4730]

Pythagorean arithmetic system kzbin.info/www/bejne/pWGTn2WKiN2glbc

[@sheeshman2319]

Thank u for the video. Did this nuber system had an effect on the economic perpective? In that case how?

[@bluewolf77447]

totally expanded my mind WOW

[@blebblebberson9327]

dots= spicy-a meat-a-bol bars= noodles shells= no spaghetti because you're having shell mac and cheese instead The Mayans sure loved their pastas.

[@melissasalasblair5273]

I knew I had saved this months ago lol Thanks Playlists!! 🐞🌌

[@thefrench8847]

The French, Dane, Scottish, would love using these

[@ricardozuniga8710]

Based on the example shown toward the end of the video, does anyone know how you would distinguish between 25 and 6 with the shown square separations? They both would have the same notation of one bar at the bottom and one dot on top. Would a bigger space be left between them to make it apparent that it is 25?

[@Aikko77]

Ricardo Zúñiga yeah it'd b a larger gap than 6.

[@PlazaMaya]

25 = (the top square) dot = 20 (bottom square) dot = 1 (bottom square) bar = 5 the six is on the bottom ( the base 20x0, bottom square) the twenty is the dot above that (the base 20x1, top square). 20= (the top square) - dot = 20 (bottom square) - shell = 0

[@superior9744]

Awesome

[@moonkai973]

Thank you so much for making this! So helpful for a school project!

[@xinocelotl6217]

Rather we are Mayan,Mexica,Lakota,Zuni,Nicoya, or any other indigenous of Cemanahuac(the so called Western Hemisphere) have been discriminated and the mass of us are left poor in our own lands for over 5 centuries. Make no mistake it's not just our Mayan brothers and sisters being oppressed in the so called America's!

[@stephenarmiger8343]

Thanks for this.

[@Anaurodama]

Very good explanation

[@Manu-gp3rq]

Actually I am a Mayan and maths to me always have been easy... Most of my people do not have big inventions today because most of them are poor and they live in bad conditions...

[@PlutotheDoggoRat]

Indígena Maya really?

[@amenazaplatano7000]

What band of maya?

[@west2134]

@@aoxilus lol mayan are still in Guatemala 🤣🤣

[@west2134]

@@aoxilus it is LOL

[@west2134]

@@aoxilus lmfaooo it is

[@cornanderson2111]

THX for this helped me alot

[@piyushprakash2422]

My great india 🇮🇳 vedic culture 🙏🙏

[@ryand2565]

Useful video

[@cursedalien]

*casually slips this into my folder of worldbuilding ideas*

[@bubblegumgun3292]

really cool

[@stjacquesremi]

If I have well followed this, if in each ''box'' we put the greatest value (3 bars and 4 dots, so 19), for example, the value of 19 in the one's place, plus 19 in the 20s place (thus 19*20=380), in the 400s place (19*400=7,600) and in the 8000s place (19*8000=152,000) and that we add all these together, does that mean the the largest number would end up to 159,969? what if they wanted to have greater numbers?

[@AndhakaEfiel]

Rémi St-Jacques You can just keep going. What if someone using the decimal wanted a number greater than 9999? They would simply add another number (x * 10^4 in this case). For your example, they'd add a place for values of x * 20^4.

[@lochlannkingz5279]

dunno

[@fellowdude7295]

Each place increases by 20^x, so higher than 8000 would be 160000, 3200000, and so on

[@DavidArmentaRealty]

Is there a second part to this video?

[@ashersplasher2958]

you want to learn about this!!!!! so boring

[@MADAISELBOR]

How do you say Zero in maya?

[@williamwilting]

Okay, so you used boxes to separate the positions of a Mayan number's digits. But how did the Mayans do it without the boxes? I mean that without the boxes, 6 and 21 would look very similar if you'd write down Mayan numbers from bottom to top.

[@alomakalok7266]

How do you write the number 20??????????? And Maya numbers is the same as Aztec numbers right? Thanks for response.

[@citrusblast4372]

You put a dot in the 20s place and maybe a shell in the ones place, it would like a dot floating on top of a shell

[@pallavib1515]

I know to 0 is a shell, 1 adds a Dot, 2 Adds another dot, 3 Adds another Dot,4 Adds another Dot,5 Is a line, 6 Adds another dot, 7 Adds another Dot. Up to 19, 3 Lines then what will happen next…

[@tato257]

thank you, this is really helpful for a school project!

[@user-im3dc6em5n]

20 is the most popular numbers in the Mayans

[@Hi-ks2ns]

Who's watching in 2020👌

[@codedroneomg]

Thanks to 7th grade history class yes

[@codedroneomg]

Technically 2021 now though

[@norahobaid6242]

wow this video is very intersting

[@chrisdutton6602]

This helped with my homework

[@ashade2877]

@Jill Britton are there any more videos like this. Thank you so much for this video

[@PlutotheDoggoRat]

I like yours

[@mxb2432]

Thanks :)

[@mohamedashwear4933]

Man fr compare this to our numbers now. we must be happy we live here and now

[@Onimirare]

why?

[@mohamedashwear4933]

Nvm

[@esppse1388]

Mohamed Ashwear why ? They have good mathematic system just its new for u.....

[@crystaljack8811]

Mohamed Ashwear lol

[@Brownkevin7]

Idk seems pretty efficient to me you could even enhance it draw a line below the ones place and do fractions

[@michael85225]

The Mayans were very bright. I wonder what they would have been up to now if Mexico was never colonized.

[@pallavib1515]

And so Mayans Use 0,1,5 For math,I know to add Dots and lines not a line. But with these stuff I Don? 0 Is a shell,1 is a Dot, And 5 Is a Line, But With a decimal value of The FE,s A lot of Mayans did not use numbers with new numbers! Also, With only use keys right Away in 1963, Finally, This worth

[@kadenvanciel9335]

A modern vigesimal system used in a similar manner to decimal would include 0-9, then A-J, then add to the next column after J.

[@PopeLando]

You'd have to exclude 'I' and go to K. 0123456789ABCDEFGHJK

[@BBAHUNTER]

Heh...there math could be done without paper, just sticks and rocks and dead fish. Pretty resourceful.

[@m1n3c4rt]

Dead fish would be a bit expensive for landlocked regions so maybe leaves instead The big circular kinds

[@zaraiwzara]

mayas had paper and brushs

[@toforgetisagem8145]

It is all because of the dead fish that I am bad at maths. (I live in the UK and never been near a Myan school) but it is my excuse and I am sticking to it.)

[@ionian4730]

Pythagorean arithmetic system kzbin.info/www/bejne/pWGTn2WKiN2glbc

[@Caysen52TheSecond]

What about Uayeb?

[@kloin_]

7:58 Good Stufff

[@derrickmcadoo3804]

Your designer was lazy, or you were un-informed, that the dots above a 'line' are always placed and re-arranged when added to, in accordance with practical 'balance'. (Think stones over a bar - forming a see-saw) Stones are placed to always remain balance. Ex. 1Stone= Center, 2= Opposite ends, 3= Opposite ends + one in the center, 4= Opposite ends, with two equally spaced in the middle. *Not from Left to Right

[@ThatisnotHair]

Problem is with their symbols. Imagine writing 7999 with that system

[@sorgento55]

maya math how making four process? 4+ 7 = 23 ? how did?

[@legocupman2675]

THIS VIDEO IS LITERALLY OLDER THAN ME

[@memegineer2097]

cool

[@nas222seer]

Isn't the third place 360 instead of 400? it's the only base that's different than the others

[@sarahwright4154]

For math it's 400, but for calendar dates its 360.

[@PlutotheDoggoRat]

In school it gave me the creeps. So I learned it.

[@kimbranch4578]

this is for my homework

[@lochlannkingz5279]

lucky you!

[@ricardozuniga8710]

Same. Best elective class I've taken.

[@luana6816]

same

[@pallavib1515]

0 Shell 1 Dot 5 Line

[@Kahweekah2o2f]

What’s 204 ?

[@ThatisnotHair]

Imagine without 0 and placement value

[@coopergates9680]

I'm surprised no one advocates using vigesimal instead of decimal, given that some people want octal, binary, hexadecimal, dozenal, and other systems.

[@coopergates9680]

Cooper Gates 1/2 = 0.t (t for ten) 1/5 = 0.4 1/4 = 0.5 But 1/3 = 0.6H6H6H6H6H6.... Hs are thirteen

[@DarDarBinks1986]

+Cooper Gates We prefer decimal because the metric system relies on it.

[@coopergates9680]

+AirCooledMan2006 Scientific notation works in any base. I have heard plenty of advocacy for a version of metric using another base.

[@DarDarBinks1986]

Cooper Gates No matter what base you use, it doesn't change the fact that 2+2=4 or that F = m*V. I'd like to think that if the Norse had stayed in North America, Norse explorers (as well as other Indians in our timeline's Canada and America) would have brought the concept of the zero number to "Europe" much earlier, thus negating the need to wait for the Crusades to happen. Hell, the American Indians would have fared far better in the long run had Leif Ericsson and his men not called it quits on Newfoundland after two years. If they'd permanently settled the Americas, the Norse would have introduced ironworking, Old World domestic flora & fauna, practical use of the wheel beyond toys, and possibly spread writing to more tribes (Yes, I know some peoples such as the Aztecs, Maya, Lenape, and Ojibwa had some form of writing or another, and Sequoyah created the Cherokee syllabary, which is still in use today in parts of North Carolina and Oklahoma, but most peoples didn't). Aside from the trade and exchange of goods, services, and ideas, the Indians would have been exposed to the Old World diseases earlier, giving them more time to develop immunity and recover. Using our timeline's Imperial Japan as a model, one or more tribes, maybe a Mississippian city-state or two might have modernized and pursued expansionist policies, doing the same things you'd expect any powerful civilization of the day to do. The Norse wouldn't have arrived in as large of numbers as our timeline's "European" newcomers, though, so the diseases might not ravage the Indians as quickly or by as much. The situation might have instead been more like our timeline's colonial Africa, India, China, and Southeast "Asia", where the whites remained a minority (e.g., South Africa, which has NEVER had a majority white population). Culturally, though, we'd see some blend of Norse and Amerindian patterns. Paganism might have remained dominant, with religion ultimately dying out altogether. Leif Ericsson, like many Norsemen of his time, was a Christian, and Scandinavia was in the process of being Christianized. How could the then-Papal States control any Norse outposts in Canada? Rome was an ocean and sea away! Surely some pagan holdouts and Christians who didn't agree with Catholic doctrine might have fled to the Americas. They'd have likely traded and gotten it on with the local Indians just like you'd expect anyone else to. "Viking" wasn't an ethnicity so much as a job title. Your average Viking wasn't so much a violent brute as a hard-bargaining trader. They knew that killing one's own customers is no way to make money. Using our timeline's Normans, Yorkshiremen, and Kievan Rus' as a model, it's likely that some Norse migrants would have assimilated and married into the tribes of the East Coast. If Christianity even took hold in the Americas at all in this timeline, it might remain a fringe movement, seen as uniquely Eurasian and not taken seriously by a majority of the population. Technology could possibly even take a different path, leading to an earlier Industrial Revolution in the Americas. The Vikings had trade networks spanning as far west as Baffin Island in the Canadian territory of Nunavut to as far east as Russia and Turkey. They even raided and traded into Spain, which at the time was mostly under Muslim rule. At this point, Islam, for all its barbarity, was totally into math and science. It's why we have the words "algebra", "alchemy", "almanac", "alcohol", "chemistry", and the names of many prominent stars such as Aldebaran. While Catholic "Europe" was stuck in the Dark Ages, the Arabs, Persians, and Berbers were busy preserving and translating the writings of the Greeks and Romans. It's likely that one or more Muslim scholars such as Ibn al-Hazen could have Shanghaied scientific texts to the New World, translated them into the indigenous languages & imported Old Norse, and kicked off a technological revolution. Like Christians, Muslims and perhaps Jews would probably also be a tiny minority, taken as seriously by most people as ancient astronaut believers are now. Perhaps some inventive Indian, Norseman, or Nordic mestizo would have implemented Hero of Alexandria's steam engine and vending machine. Maybe gunpowder could have spread from China via the Middle East to the Americas, directly from China via the West Coast tribes, or been invented independently. By the 15th-18th centuries, the new "European" migrants would have a hell of a time trying to remove any tribes. They wouldn't dare try to kick anyone off their land unless they were masochists with excellent health insurance. The technological difference might be too great for the new Britons, Spaniards, French, Portuguese, Dutch, or Swedes (northern Delaware) to enslave or exterminate their American contemporaries. If they had working brains, they'd concentrate on trade and diplomacy instead. Or the Nordic/Amerindian descendant nations might go and conquer Eurasian peoples & countries. By now, those Indians and Nordic mestizos would probably be colonizing Mars, Venus (cloud cities), and perhaps the Jovian, Saturnian, Uranian, and Neptunian moons. Perhaps the Kuiper Belt's ice planets such as Pluto, Sedna, Quaoar, Eris, etc. Maybe they'll have figured out interstellar travel and made new homes in other solar systems by now, colonizing the galaxy. It'd be the kind of society that'd make Carl Sagan proud.

[@coopergates9680]

+AirCooledMan2006 F = force? Fvector = mass * AccelVector (scalar * vector) Well, decimal vs. vigesimal isn't a big difference, but it might help with fractions to use a multiple of 6 base. 1/3 in senary: 0.2 dozenal: 0.4 Octodecimal: 0.6

[@ralphredimix]

I would always be fuckin up if I was an ancient Mayan mathematician

[@oceaneyuri5712]

I love you

[@ryand2565]

This is 4 my homework. And I am still in year 5 ='(

[@BladesByClaw]

im here because i have to write an essay over this for my geometry class lol

[@artiyxles9470]

omg same

[@BladesByClaw]

@@artiyxles9470 This is crazy, i commented that when I was 16, now im 22 in college. Good luck in geometry tho

[@pallavij520]

the 0 is a shell, in 1096 is 100 times 10,9.6 times 10,

[@haireepothead5001]

Your using Decimal numerals. Decimal Numerals don't translate well to Vigesimal numerals.

[@haireepothead5001]

But traditionally those Europeans used math that look like this: IX+IV=XIII (9+4=13)

[@rongarza9488]

Actually, subtractive Roman numbers did not exist. So 9 = VIIII, and 4 = IIII, thus 13 = V IIII IIII = V IIIII III = V V III = XIII. (I used Harry Pothead with my niece and got an "ugh", LOL)

[@jerrykukla337]

Vigessimal system÷ 9+11 starred Jar/ Pot on the Codex Mendoza...

[@missilefool]

harder than pre-cal

[@rongarza9488]

how is 6 thru 19 written then?

[@dominictafoya2205]

6= . _ 19= .... _ _ _ _

[@thefrench8847]

6 and J

[@cactus6_05]

It's hard to represent mayan numbers in text, at least using a normal keyboard. Just imagine bars are horizontal and placed under the dots. 6 = •| 7 = ••| 8 = •••| 9 = ••••| 10 = || 11 = •|| 12 = ••|| 13 = •••|| 14 = ••••|| 15 = ||| 16 = •||| 17 = ••||| 18 = •••||| 19 = ••••|||

[@someone-yw2qw]

so they cant count over 50,505?

[@ryanspence5831]

They can have any amount of places not just 4

[@milofm]

lol the music is so creepy

[@DarkBoi227]

Dam son no wonder I was only good at math

[@joeylawell3590]

video should have started at 3:45

[@ellis8704]

Once met a man so dumb he had to take off his pants to count to 21 !!

[@fangurl96dotjpg72]

That doesn't make sense. But 9x20^3 is 72000...

[@haresmahmood]

Imagine doing all of your maths in the Mayan system... It's like having to write an essay in a foreign language

[@charlotteryder9690]

Why are you searching mayan numbers, then?

[@jamesmanning8269]

1:24 activates Siri on my iPhone.

[@PlutotheDoggoRat]

1 20 400 then 8000

[@wandcamilo3989]

Base 20 is the most accurate to the cosmic energy humans experience. 13:20 proves the base 20 to be more aligned to us. sounds vague but research

[@knightyknightakapro8244]

BRUH HE LEGIT SAYS 1:38 THAT THE MAYAN SYTEM IS COMPLEX how are u lot saying its simple

[@stevelambert313]

ALL FOR THE POWER & GLORY OF THE MOST HIGH,YHWH! THE CREATOR MADE ONE LAND MASS.THESE CIVILIZATION'S MAY HAVE BEEN AROUND BEFORE THE ICE-AGE AND JUST HAPPENED TO STAY INTACT, DURING THE BREAK-UP.

[@user-qn6kk2sc4c]

joe

[@brylongtv3611]

Mayans and Aztecs were austronesians who traveled from asia to americas.

[@fastdesigns8895]

Yeah, who had over 20,000 years to evolve differently. Stop comparing us to asians. We arent asian

[@redjoker8640]

Yes, my ancestors are Afro-Asiatic. We are Hebrews from 2nd Esdras migration to the Americas. Origin of the American Indians by Lee E. Huddleston.

[@vishalarora6599]

1=. 5=― can't write 0 in mayan system

[@Adickrondock]

my teacher WAS right! they have almost ANYTHING on youtube... except porno...

[@nub9688]

Ansel Fareaux - 8 years later, are you done with school?

[@addiechen5095]

so confusing .

[@amaniadam1496]

Me thinking math was easy me seeing this 😑😑😑😑

[@jchrg2336]

I thought so already decimals don't go from 1 to 10 It goes from 0 to 9 I think your story is wrong!

[@IncognitoMeToo]

Get back to school kid

[@jchrg2336]

@@IncognitoMeToo what did cinderella say when she took a bite out of the aple? I'm watching top cat next..grown up!

[@PopeLando]

The video is wrong when it says "each place can hold 19 values". Each place can hold 20 values including the shell (zero), but it can only count up to 19. You can say "it can count up to 19" or "the largest value in each place is 19", but he keeps saying "it can only hold 19 values", which is wrong.

[@mixtecjaguar9824]

With the Europeans didn't cause so much destruction,...

[@apppu5953]

Who is Mayan ( மயன்), in India „“Ramayanam“, was holly Scriptures, in that there was a king „“ Rawanan „, Who take the Sita ( Queen) and gone to Srilanka? Rawanan‘s uncle was „“Mayan“, he was the person who went to America and lived, ( there was fighting going in Srilanka , Rams and Rawanan, that ( Mayan) Who left Srilanka and go towards east ( traveling in sea by - Kstu Msran / Kallam, and reached Mexico, ( nearly -150- day taken)‘ in Mayan language and Tamilan language had lot of words/sentences was Similar-! ( Appan -Fsther, / Yar -Who,/ Molle-daughter,/Al -People,/ Tollilali-Labor,:/ Colli ( Kovil )- Temple, like lot,

[@Supermario0727]

1:35-shouldn't Number Systems be simple? I mean, that's what makes them so effective. Why create a ridiculously complicated system? No one is going to use that.

[@Brownkevin7]

John Stuart how is it complicated lol seems effective to me maybe I'm bias tho

[@ricardozuniga8710]

It does not seem that complicated once you get the hang of it. Plus I'm sure if you begin learning it as a kid, it would become second nature.

[@knightyknightakapro8244]

@@ricardozuniga8710 yea but we not u we did not learn it as a kid and ur right we might find it easy when we get the hang of it but for now its very hard and everyone saying its simple does not help

[@negan156]

HOLY FUCK I DON'T UNDERSTAND THE FUCKING LOGIC OF THIS SHIT!!!

[@nakl526]

i hate it

[@MUNCHYzZ]

holy shit this is terrible

[@lumri2002]

Perhaps what we know as numbers for counting and calculations are relative, and zero is optional. Let us consider an example of representing vigesimal numbers without any use of zero, click on drive.google.com/file/d/1S1s4MmHV1Y-IdkXtw6C-C-wB3XLGRA8-/view?usp=sharing