Ancient Mayan math makes comeback in classrooms in Mexico

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In Mexico, a form of calculation that made the ancient Mayans such a successful civilization has been rediscovered by academics, and is now being taught to the descendants of the culture more than 2,000 years later.

Mayans were some of the most advanced mathematicians of their time, and Mayan math, as it is known, made the long-lost civilization that built Chichen Itza in the jungles of the Yucatan Peninsula.

In a classroom in the remote village of Kanxoc, CGTN attended a Mayan math class, learning how to do simple arithmetic using beans, sticks and pasta shells on a simple grid.

Mayan math made the long-lost civilization that built Chichen Itza in the jungles of the Yucatan Peninsula. /VCG Photo

"We’ve seen very good results because of how simple the method is," Silivia Febles, the principal at the village primary school told CGTN. "The children's first language is Mayan, and class is conducted in Mayan, so it makes things far easier than conducting lessons in Spanish."

The method was rediscovered by Luis Fernando Magana, a physics professor at Mexico’s National Autonomous University.

"It’s a brilliant, intelligent and practical methodology," he told CGTN, while calculating the square root of two using Mayan mathematics on his office chalkboard. "But it’s also so simple that it can be practiced on a dirt floor with minimal resources."

"It’s also an amazing practice to develop analytical, logical and social faculties for the students’ young brains," he concluded, leaving his sum at three decimal points. "These can be useful away from the classroom, and for a person’s entire life."

While the method is not yet part of Mexico’s official education syllabus, it is nevertheless taught in hundreds of schools throughout the Yucatan, and all of the teachers have been trained by Dr. Magana personally.

As Mayan math spreads through communities descended from the ancient Mayans, the teachers say that local pride in their students’ heritage travels with it.

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