vigesimal

Of, relating to, or based on the number 20; the term comes from the Latin vigesimus for "twentieth." Mayan arithmetic, which took account of all the toes as well as the fingers, used a vigesimal system. In place of the multiples of 10 used in the decimal system, 1, 10, 100, 1000, 10000, ..., the Mayans dealt in multiples of 20: 1, 20, 400, 8000, 160000, ...

Related category

• TYPES OF NUMBER

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