The Mayans used base 20? WTF? Maybe they walked around barefoot a lot and were used to counting on fingers and toes!
Maya mathematics Instead of ten digits like we have today, the Maya used a base number of 20. (Base 20 is vigesimal.) They also used a system of bar and dot as "shorthand" ... http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maya_numerals www.michielb.nl/maya/math.html - 11k The Pre-Columbian Maya civilization used a vigesimal (base-twenty) numeral system. The numerals are made up of three symbols; zero (shell shape), one (a dot) and five (a bar). For example, nineteen (19) is written as four dots in a horizontal row above three horizontal lines stacked upon each other. Please Register or Log in to view the hidden image!
(Insert title here) The latest incarnation of this test scores me as: Economic: -6.38 Social: -6.67 Please Register or Log in to view the hidden image!
Economic Left/Right: -4.50 Social Libertarian/Authoritarian: -6.97 Please Register or Log in to view the hidden image!
Economic Left/Right: -5.00 Social Libertarian/Authoritarian: -6.46 Please Register or Log in to view the hidden image!
One thing about that test, which has been true for years, is that every single major national politician scores in the upper right quadrant by two points or better (vertical and horizontal) based on their public policy statements - what they run on (Political Compass used to have a demo graph showing this) - and only a minority of American citizens on forums like this even score above the median on the vertical scale. We are, as citizens, right and left, much more libertarian (and a little bit further left) than our political representation. The other point is that most US lefties are libertarian - more libertarian than righties, on average. The upper left quadrant is the least populated one. One possible inference: authoritarian politicians are selling their rightist economics to con the right libertarian vote.
No one has yet answered my question as to why the Maya didn't have a base 21 system yet. You're all in avoidance. Sad.