The Math of the Mayans: It's not the end of the world!

featuring Dr. Alejandra Sorto

On Saturday March 31, 2012, Dr. Alejandra Sorto showed us some cool things from Mayan mathematics:

• The Mayan numeral system, which uses a mix of place-value and tally notation.
• The interlocking ritual and solar calendars, and the important role the common factors of their lengths play in the Mayan timekeeping system.
The geometrically similar cross-shaped layers that give many Mayan pyramids their distinctive shape, and can be used to calculate their volumes.

To get a better grip on what we were learning, we built our own calendar wheels and pyramids!

Printable version of the flyer

In case you missed the talk or would like to revisit it, here are slides.

• Slides from Dr. Sorto's activity

And here are the handouts!

• Numerals: introductory activities, and problems
• Calendar: introductory activities and gear templates
• Pyramids: volume activity and recording table

Here are some pictures from the talk. Click to see them larger.