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NiBiRu Hints
Can you tell me more about Mayan numbers (base 20)?
1 of 6: The symbols of lines and dots are fairly straightforward. Each dot has a value of one, and each line has a value of five. For any number from one to nineteen, the number is easy to determine -- simply multiply the lines by five and add the dots.
2 of 6: When the numbers go higher than nineteen, the Mayans would "carry the one" into the "twenties" place and change the "ones" place to zero. (This is similar to our own numbering system, when one is added to nine -- the "tens" place gains one and the "ones" place becomes zero.) In the Mayan numbering system, the bottom number represents the number from one through nineteen, and the number just over it represents the "twenties" place.
3 of 6: Once there are numbers in the "twenties" place, determining the value of the number (in modern numbers) becomes more complex. To start with, you'll need to find the value of the symbol in the "twenties" place number by multiplying the lines by five and adding the number of dots. Once you know how many "twenties" there are, the next step is to multiply the value of the symbol by twenty. (This is similar to our own numbering system, where a number in the "tens" place is worth ten.) Once the value of the symbol in the "twenties" place is determined, it will still be necessary to convert the value of the symbol underneath it (in the "one-through-nineteen" place) and to add the two numbers together.
4 of 6: A three-digit Mayan number becomes even more complex. The third digit is written above the "twenties" digit, and this place has a value of 400. To understand why the third digit has a value of 400, these numbers can be compared to our modern numbering system. In modern numbers, the lowest possible three digit number is 100 -- which is the same as ten groups of ten. In the Mayans numbering system, the numbers aren't grouped in groups of ten, they are grouped in groups of twenty. So that the lowest possible three digit number in the Mayan numbering system would have a value of four hundred -- or twenty groups of twenty.
5 of 6: So, if a three digit Mayan number had three dots in the "four hundred" place, a zero in the "twenties" and a zero in the "ones", then the number would be worth 1200 (three x 400).
6 of 6: To calculate out a three digit Mayan number into modern equivalents, it would be necessary to multiply out the number in the "four hundreds" place by four hundred, multiply out the number in the "twenties" place by twenty (and add it to the previous number in the "four hundreds" place), then add the number in the "ones".
