12 January: Numbers as a Language

I think the Mayan numerals are easy to remember. They are basically just dots and lines. For example, the number "0" is shaped like and oval with a curved line drawn across it. It is actually a picture of a shell. The number "1" is just a dot, and number "2" is 2 dots. And it goes on all the way till 5, where it is a horizontal line. but this is just the basics...

Just as we have place values like tens, hundreds and so on, the Mayans also have what is like our place values. But theirs is according to the number "1", number "20", and the number "400". For example, 35 would be written as one dot above five dots, which are in turn atop two lines. The first dot represents "one twenty" or "1×20", which is added to five dots and two bars, or thirteen. Now that's simple enough.