Mayan 2012

Mayan 2012

There are a lot of glyphs starting to float around the internet supposedly representing the Mayan 2012. Most are wrong. I believe the image to your left to be correct. Look at the image. There are only three placeholders in use on this glyph. The leftmost represents the number 5. The middle represents the number 0. The last respresents the number 12.

There are only three symbols used in the Mayan mathematics - a shell representing zero, a dot representing one (and multiples), and a line or bar representing 5 (and multiples). Furthermore the Mayan math is a vigesimal (base 20) math system, as opposed to the western decimal (base 10) system.

In short, each placeholder in the decimal system increases by a factor of 10 (1,10,100,1000…) whereas in the Mayan mathematical system each placeholder increases by a factor of 20 (1,20,400,8000…). A vigesimal system is actually more appropriate for computers based mostly on the fact you can store bigger numbers in a smaller space. You can see this in the glyph - there are three place holders representing 2012 as opposed to four in the decimal system. This really starts making a difference when you are working with larger numbers - millions, billions and bigger.

So going back to the image we see there are three placeholders in use. Breaking down the decimal 2012 we have symbolically the following:

2 multiplied by 1000……(2000) added to
0 multiplied by 100……..(0) added to
1 multiplied by 10………(10) added to
2 multiplied by 1…………(2) equals = 2012

The vigesimal system breaks down the same number as:

5 multiplied by 400……..(2000) added to
0 multiplied by 20………(0) added to
12 multiplied by 1……..(12) equals 2012

Some people believe the Mayan math system is base 20 because of the number of fingers and toes we have, which would have been used for counting. Others believe the Maya inherited their math system from an older, more advanced race - a race that actually made use of larger mathematical calculations.  By the way, an interesting point to note about the Mayan math system is it’s use of the number zero. The Maya made use of zero over a 1000 years before the appearance of zero in European cultures.

So let’s all get on the same page and start representing the Mayan 2012 via it’s native vigesimal