Mayans and Toltecs (500-1500) and Base 20 Math

The Maya people lived in small kingdoms in the rainforests and plains of Central America. Their temples were pyramids and they played a fast-moving ball game. They had a very accurate 365 day calendar.

Around 1160 fierce tribes began invading, scattering both the Toltecs and the Mayas.
Around 850m most of the Maya had moved north into the area known as the Yucatan. Meanwhile, in Mexico the Toltecs became powerful. In the 1100's invading tribes drove the Toltecs out of Mexican and into the Yucatan, where it seems as if they worked together peacefully.

Remember the fun we had with base 6 math? The Mayan's math system was a base 20 system.

So, I got out the counters and we decided to have some fun with Mayan Math.

First we made up a name for the numbers from 10- 20, because it was easier to understand the place value if we used different names for the digits that we have in our base 10 that would not also be in base 20. So, our ten became bleep...11 became cheep...12 became seep and so on to 20.

 Then we went through the same games as we had gone through with our base 6 math.
It was confusing and fun and we laughed and got frustrated. I was so busy I forgot to take photos. 

We looked again for patterns.

We tried adding and subtracting using base 20. I was hard but fun.

Place value is beginning to take on new meaning.

 In 1542 the Mayans surrendered to Francisco de Montejo.

More Activities

Make a Maya pyramid. Mix up a Chili Chocolate Drink. Create a macaw headdress. While reading The Maya, you'll have a great time exploring the cultural traditions of this innovative people as you learn to write in the Mayan language, make a mosaic jade mask in the likeness of one of their rulers, and test your skills as you play Maya games. This book is filled with activities and projects that will show you how the Maya people lived and played, as well as how they managed to create a civilization that lasted almost 4,000 years! You'll learn about the bravery of Maya warriors as you construct a war shield. You'll discover how to read ancient Maya hieroglyphs and even create your own glyph rubbing, just like the scribes used to do! You'll get to solve math problems using Maya numbers-and then come up with your own problems to try on your friends! Plus, you'll find lots of amazing Maya facts on topics ranging from history and government to foods and arts to science and architecture. So be prepared for lots of fun as you discover the ancient secrets of The Maya.