Ask the Chatbot Games & Quizzes History & Society Science & Tech Biographies Animals & Nature Geography & Travel Arts & Culture ProCon Money Videos
vigesimal number system
References
Images
A chart displays the Mayan numeral system, showing symbols for numbers 0 to 19 using dots and bars, and demonstrates how larger numbers are formed by stacking these symbols vertically in a base-20 system. An example calculation on the right breaks down the number 258,458 using Mayan numerals and powers of 20.
Britannica AI Icon

vigesimal number system

mathematics
Also known as: base-20 number system
Written by
The Information Architects of Encyclopaedia Britannica

The Information Architects maintain a master list of the topics included in the corpus of  Encyclopædia Britannica, and create and manage the relationships between them.
The Information Architects of Encyclopaedia Britannica
Last updated

Quick Summary

A chart displays the Mayan numeral system, showing symbols for numbers 0 to 19 using dots and bars, and demonstrates how larger numbers are formed by stacking these symbols vertically in a base-20 system. An example calculation on the right breaks down the number 258,458 using Mayan numerals and powers of 20.
Mayan numbal system The Mayan number system, which is base 20 with simple grouping to base 5.

The vigesimal number system is a base-20 counting system, meaning it uses 20 as its base rather than the more common base-10 (decimal) system. This system is thought to have originated from using both fingers and toes for counting.12

While the decimal system is prevalent today, vestiges of the vigesimal system can be found in some languages and historical contexts. For example, in French, the word for 80 is "quatre-vingts," which translates to "four twenties". The Maya civilization also developed a positional numeral system with a base of 20, which they primarily used for their calendar.324

Summary created from Britannica articles using AI. AI can make mistakes, so verify using Britannica articles.
4 Britannica Sources
  1. vigesimal
  2. numerals and numeral systems - Number bases
  3. numerals and numeral systems - Positional numeral systems
  4. Unusual Counting Systems

Ask Britannica AI about this topic

Britannica doesn't have a full article on this topic, so we've curated a list of our relevant coverage.