Editing Maya script (section)

== Numerical system ==
{{main|Maya numerals}}
[[File:Mayan numerals 0-19 & 2 vertical examples.gif|thumb|600px|List of Maya numerals from 0 to 19 with underneath two vertically oriented examples]]
The Mayas used a positional base-twenty ([[vigesimal]]) numerical system which only included whole numbers. For simple counting operations, a bar and dot notation was used. The dot represents 1 and the bar represents 5. A shell was used to represent zero. Numbers from 6 to 19 are formed combining bars and dots, and can be written horizontally or vertically.

Numbers over 19 are written vertically and read from the bottom to the top as powers of 20. The bottom number represents numbers from 0 to 20, so the symbol shown does not need to be multiplied. The second line from the bottom represents the amount of 20s there are, so that number is multiplied by 20. The third line from the bottom represents the amount of 400s, so it is multiplied by 400; the fourth by 8000; the fifth by 160,000, etc. Each successive line is an additional power of twenty (similar to how in [[Arabic numerals]], additional powers of 10 are added to the left of the first digit). This positional system allows the calculation of large figures, necessary for chronology and astronomy.<ref>Information panel in the Museo Regional de Antropología in Mérida (state of Yucatán), visited on 2010-08-04</ref>

[[File:Examples of how to calculate the value of Mayan numerals.gif|thumb|300px|These four examples show how the value of Maya numerals can be calculated.]]