Imayan the Possibilities Mystery Cache
Hidden : 9/2/2015
Difficulty:
2.5 out of 5
Terrain:
2 out of 5

Size: Size: small (small)

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Geocache Description:


This cache is not at the posted coordinates.




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PLEASE MAKE SURE THE CACHES ARE CLOSED TIGHT!

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This geo-art consists of twenty-nine Unknown/Mystery caches which each have a puzzle to solve in order to determine the coordinates of the final location (a container with log book and in most cases some swag). Boots may be needed during certain times of the year when it's rainy. I will be doing regular maintenance so please do not replace any missing caches. Log replacements, on the other hand are fine and most appreciated. Have fun!

The puzzle...


The Mayans had an interesting number system with a base 5 within a base 20. The Mayan system is interesting as they developed it without contact with any other systems. It is similar to the Babylonians but the Mayans chose different numbers as their bases. They used dots to represent numbers under five, so four is four dots. Five is represented by a line. So six is a line and a dot, and seven is a line and two dots, and thirteen is two lines and three dots. This is a unary system, but using five as a base rather than the more common ten.

This works up to nineteen, but rather than twenty being four lines, they started a new count above the first one. Zero is represented by a shell. So twenty is a single dot above a shell. This stacking of numbers rather than having them in a line is a little disconcerting at first! You have to talk about rows rather than columns. This second system, for counting the twenties and powers of twenty, is positional, and even has a zero, to show that you have no digit in this row.

The great advantage of the positional system is that you need only a limited number of symbols (the Mayans only had two, plus their symbol for zero) and you can represent any whole number, however big. The Mayans had a sophisticated number system, but a little complex. Presumably the Mayans chose five and twenty as the two bases of their system as there are five fingers on one hand, and twenty fingers and toes on one person. Although we think of other systems using base ten, in fact the Romans had almost a base five within their base ten, as they had separate symbols for five, fifty, and five hundred.

29. -82.


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