Glyph
- Bars
- 0
- Dots
- 0
- Zero sign
- yes
Maya numbers / Numeral 0
Maya number 0
zero / U+1D2E0
Shell zero. It marks an empty place so the positions above it can carry value.
Place value
As one base-20 digit, 0 belongs to the 0 to 19 set. For numbers above 19, Maya numerals can stack vertically with the ones place at the bottom and higher places above it.
How to read it
The Maya number 0 is written with the shell sign. It has no dots and no bars. Its role is positional: it marks an empty place so the rest of the stacked number can keep its structure.
In context
Zero is one of the most important ideas in Maya mathematics, and the Maya shell sign is one of the earliest documented zero placeholders. It lets a count show absence without becoming unclear. In calendar writing, that made it possible to record long spans of time with precision.
Source note
This entry uses the Unicode Mayan Numerals block, Rojo-Garibaldi and colleagues on positional number systems and the Mesoamerican discovery of zero, and Smithsonian material on Maya mathematics and calendar writing.
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Sources and further reading
- The Unicode Standard, Mayan Numerals block source
- Non-Power Positional Number Representation Systems, Bijective Numeration, and the Mesoamerican Discovery of Zero, Berenice Rojo-Garibaldi, Costanza Rangoni, Diego L. González, and Julyan H. E. Cartwright, 2020 source
- Living Maya Time: Overview
- The Maya Calendar System
- Maya Calendar Converter and Calendar Glyphs