The second of the above-mentioned general rules, covering the majority of cases, follows:
Rule 2. When the starting point or date is not expressed, if the number is an Initial Series the date from which it should be counted will be found to be 4 Ahau 8 Cumhu.[[93]]
This rule is particularly useful in deciphering numbers in the inscriptions. For example, when the student finds a number which he can identify as an Initial Series,[[94]] he may assume at once that such a number in all probability is counted from the date 4 Ahau 8 Cumhu, and proceed on this assumption. The exceptions to this rule, that is, cases in which the starting point is not expressed and the number is not an Initial Series, are not numerous. No rule can be given covering all such cases, and the starting points of such numbers can be determined only by means of the calculations given under the third and fourth steps, below.
Having determined the starting point or date from which a given number is to be counted (if this is possible), the next step is to find out which way the count runs; that is, whether it is forward from the starting point to some later date, or whether it is backward from the starting point to some earlier date. This process may be called the third step.
Third Step in Solving Maya Numbers
Ascertain whether the number is to be counted forward or backward from its starting point.
It may be said at the very outset in this connection that the overwhelming majority of Maya numbers are counted forward from their starting points and not backward. In other words, they proceed from earlier to later dates and not vice versa. Indeed, the preponderance of the former is so great, and the exceptions are so rare, that the student should always proceed on the postulate that the count is forward until proved definitely to be otherwise.
