Mayan Mathematics
Overview
The Maya of Central America designed one of the most complex and accurate calendar systems known. This calendar system was based heavily on Mayan mathematics, including the Mayan base-20 numbering system. Arising in isolation from the world's other great intellectual traditions, it is no surprise that the Mayan calendar and numbering systems differed substantially from those that developed in China and the Middle East. But different does not necessarily mean inferior, and the Maya had a rich tradition in mathematics and astronomy.
Background
It is possible that only three civilizations independently developed mathematics: the Chinese, the peoples of the Middle East, and the Maya Indians of Central America. Of these, there is the possibility that Chinese and Middle Eastern mathematicians may have had some influence on each other via the Hindu, but this is not certain. What is certain is that the mathematical tradition of the New World arose in complete isolation from any other because of the geographic isolation of the Central American civilizations.
The Maya themselves arose in Central America about 800 B.C. as a group of linguistically related farmers. Like other ancient empires, they became stronger and began to expand geographically, largely through wars and diplomacy, until they were the dominant political force in a part of Central America centered around the Yucatan Peninsula and the surrounding mountains and jungles of what are now Mexico, Belize, and Guatemala.
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