Aztec math

Both National Geographic and Scientific American published articles about Aztec mathematics yesterday. The article in National Geographic focused on a specialized arithmetic that Aztec mathematicians developed to measure tracts of taxable land. In this arithmetic they used symbols like hearts, hands and arrows, which probably had a relation to the human body. The article refers to a study that was reported in this week's issue of Science. Science covers the topic in a news story as well as the research article. The Scientific American article also focus on the hearts and arrows, and they also refer to another article (in Science) about the Aztec number system. So, for those interested in Aztec mathematics in particular, and history of mathematics in general, there are lots of interesting and up to date articles to read here!