Why in Mayan Mathematics, Zero and Infinity Are the Same: A Possible Explanation

In Mayan mathematics, zero is supposed to be, in some sense, equal to infinity. At first glance, while this statement may have a deep philosophical meaning, it does not seem to make much mathematical sense. In this paper, we show, that this statement may be made mathematically reasonable. Specifically, on a real line, it is often useful to consider both −∞ and +∞ as a single infinity. When we deal with very small and very large numbers, it makes sense to use floating point representation, i.e., in effect, consider logarithms of the original values. In terms of logarithms, the original value 0 corresponds to −∞, while the original infinite value corresponds to +∞. When we treat both possible values −∞ and +∞ as a single infinity, we thus treat the original values 0 and ∞ as similar. 1 Formulation of the Problem Zero is infinity in Mayan math. According to the traditional Mayan teachings, zero and infinite are one. These teaching are described in [4, 5, 6] and summarized in [1]. There are similar philosophical statements in other religious teachings. Similar statements about the similarity between nothing (zero) and everything (infinity) abound in many philosophical and religious teachings. For example, many Jewish thinkers cite a 19 century Rabbi Simhah Bunim who said that “A person should have two pieces of paper, one in each pocket, to be used as necessary. On one of them [is written] ‘The world was created for me,’ and on the other, ‘I am dust and ashes’.” [7]; according to Rabbi Bunim, the key to living a successful life is to be guided by both of those statements and keep those two opposing truths in balance.