Maya civilization

:This article is about the pre-Columbian Maya civilization. See Maya people for a discussion of the modern Maya. For other meanings of the word Maya, see Maya (disambiguation)

Mathematics

The Maya (or their Olmec predecessors) independently developed the concept of zero, and used a base 20 numbering system (see Maya numerals). Inscriptions show them on occasion working with sums up to the hundreds of millions and dates so large it would take several lines just to represent it. They produced extremely accurate astronomical observations; their charts of the movements of the moon and planets are equal or superior to those of any other civilization working from naked eye observation.

Related Topics:
Zero - Base 20 - Maya numerals - Astronomical - Moon - Planet

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Mayan priests and astronomers produced a highly accurate measure of the length of the solar year, far more accurate than that used in Europe as the basis of the Gregorian Calendar. They did not use this figure for the length of year in their calendar, however. Instead, the Maya calendar(s) were based on a year length of exactly 365 days, which means that the calendar falls out of step with the seasons l by one day every four years. By comparison, the Julian calendar, used in Europe from Roman times until about the 16th Century, accumulated an error of one day every 128 years. The modern Gregorian calendar accumulates a day's error in approximately 3257 years.

Related Topics:
Gregorian Calendar - Maya calendar - Julian calendar

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~