The Aztecs were a mathematically advanced ancient Mesoamerican people.
The Aztecs were a group of people who inhabited central Mexico as well as large swaths of Mesoamerica from the 1300s to the 1500s. Since their system of mathematics, which included a pictographic numbering system as well as fractions, significantly surpassed those of other nearby coexisting cultures, they were able to create and refine some significant and brilliant math-related inventions such as the calendar and abacus.
The Aztec Calendar
The Aztec calendar is one of the Aztecs' most famous inventions. It was used in Mexico during the pre-Columbian period. The Aztecs named the gigantic calendar "cuauhxicalli" or "eagle gourd bowl." Generally, this calendar is known as the Sun Stone or the Aztec Calendar. It was carved on stone and can still be viewed in the National Museum in Mexico.
The Aztecs' Abacus
Since the Aztecs were whizzes at math, it is not a surprise that they developed tools, such as an abacus, that could be used for calculating. Though they did not invent the first abacus, they made one that is quite the same. The Aztec abacus is made of wood, with strings on it that were stranded with corn kernels.
A Numbering System
The Aztecs had a fairly complex pictographic base 20 numbering system. Instead of writing down numbers as "1, 2, 3" and so on, they would symbolize each number with a dot. For example, one dot for number one, two dots for number two and three dots for number three. As the numbers get higher, more symbols are added. For 10 to 20, the numbers were symbolized by a mixture of dots, bars and a rhombus. For big numbers like 100, 200 and 300, more symbols, such as feathers, were added to the dots.
Fractions
The Aztecs would use hearts, arrows and hands to signify measurements. In an article on the MSNBC website, mathematician Maria del Carmen Jorge y Jorge of the Universidad Nacional Autónoma de M xico said these symbols were parallel to what we call fractions. They would use these to measure and compute land areas.
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