(Mayan Arithmetic) The Maya civilization of Central America (2600 B.C. to 1200 A.D.) und...

(Mayan Arithmetic) The Maya civilization of Central America (2600 B.C. to 1200 A.D.) understood the concept of zero hundreds of years before many other civilizations. For their calculations, the vigesimal (base 20) system was used, not the decimal (base 10) system. So instead of 1, 10, 100, 1000, 10000, they used 1, 20, 400, 8000, 16000. They used a dot for 1 and a bar for 5, and 0 was represented by the shell symbol. For example, the calculations

was as follows:

In the table above, some decimal numbers are included as an aid: on the left are the powers used, and across the top are the numbers represented by the columns.

Do these calculations using Mayan symbols and arithmetic:

d. Investigate how the Mayans might have done multiplication and division in their number system. Work out some simple examples.