In order to document their calendar, mathematical, and scientific achievements, the Maya created a specific and unique writing and numbering system (Benson 1967). The Maya write numbers in a completely different way than other parts of the world write numbers today. Maya numbers are written with dots and bars. A shell represents zero, one dot represents the number one, and a bar represents the number five and to represent higher numbers they use a combination of bars and dots (Henderson 1981). For example, the number twelve would be written with two bars and two dots stacked on top of each other. Not only are their numbers dissimilar, but the Mayan language is also far more different than the English alphabet North Americans use today. In fact,
