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A Mathematical Description of the Agricultural Fields of the Acolhua Codices Vergara and Santa María Asunción

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  18 August 2021

María del Carmen Jorge ,
Clara Eugenia Garza-Hume Open the ORCID record for Clara Eugenia Garza-Hume [Opens in a new window]  and
Ramiro Chávez
María del Carmen Jorge
Affiliation:
Unidad Académica IIMAS en el Estado de Yucatán, UNAM, Parque Científico Tecnológico de Yucatán, México
Clara Eugenia Garza-Hume*
Affiliation:
Department of Mathematics and Mechanics, IIMAS, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, Circuito Escolar, Ciudad Universitaria, CDMX 04510, México
Ramiro Chávez
Affiliation:
Department of Mathematics and Mechanics, IIMAS, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, Circuito Escolar, Ciudad Universitaria, CDMX 04510, México
*
([email protected], corresponding author)
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Abstract

We carry out a mathematical analysis of the quadrilateral fields from Codex Santa María Asunción and compare it with similar previous results from Codex Vergara, as well as analyze fields with more than four sides from both codices. We also provide a computational tool to draw all the possible shapes of the fields. Finally, we use the concept of maximum area to test the feasibility of the areas recorded in the codices and conclude that the Acolhua were very good surveyors.

En este trabajo estudiamos desde el punto de vista matemático los Códices Vergara (CV) y Santa María Asunción (CSMA), que datan de mediados del siglo dieciséis y provienen de la región de Texcoco en el centro de México. La gran cantidad de información matemática contenida en estos códices permitió analizar anteriormente diversos aspectos de los terrenos de cuatro lados del códice Vergara sobre el cálculo de sus áreas, factibilidad de las áreas registradas, así como sus formas posibles. Además se hizo la comparación del área Acolhua de la localidad Topotitla del CV con su medida satelital. En este trabajo analizamos de forma análoga los terrenos de cuatro lados del CSMA y comparamos los resultados con los del CV. Mejoramos la comparación con el área satelital de Topotitla. Mostramos un análisis completo de los terrenos con más de cuatro lados para ambos códices y presentamos una herramienta de cómputo que permite reconstruir la forma de cualquier terreno dados sus lados, para cualquier área posible. Utilizamos el concepto de factibilidad para CSMA y concluimos que los Acolhuas eran muy buenos agrimensores.

Keywords

surveyingAcolhuacodicesareas of irregular polygonsmaximum areasagrimensuraAcolhuascódicesáreas de polígonos irregularesáreas máximas
Type
Article
Information
Latin American Antiquity , Volume 32 , Issue 4 , December 2021 , pp. 835 - 849
Copyright
Copyright © The Author(s), 2021. Published by Cambridge University Press on behalf of the Society for American Archaeology

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