8.16.15.16. 1 (4 Imix 9 Mol)
1. 4.16 Backward
8.16.14.11. 5 3 Chicchan 18[[252]] Zip

In these calculations the terminal date of the Initial Series, 4 Imix 9 Mol, is suppressed, and the only date given is 3 Chicchan 18 Zip, the terminal date of the Secondary Series.

Another Initial Series of this same kind, one in which the terminal date is not recorded, is shown just to the right of the preceding in plate [32]. The Initial-series number 8.16.14.15.4 there recorded reduces to units of the first order as follows:

8 × 144,000 = 1,152,000
16 × 7,200 = 115,200
14 × 360 = 5,040
15 × 20 = 300
4 × 1 = 4
————
1,272,921

Deducting from this number all the Calendar Rounds possible, 67 (see Table [XVI]), it will be reduced to 884, and applying rules 1, 2, and 3 (pp. [139], [140], and [141], respectively) to this remainder, the terminal date reached will be 4 Kan 17 Yaxkin. This date is not recorded. There follows below, however, a Secondary-series number consisting of 6 uinals and 1 kin (6.1). The red circle around the lower term of this (the 1 kin) indicates that the whole number, 6.1, is to be counted backward from some date, probably, as in the preceding case, from the terminal date of the Initial Series above it. Assuming that this is the case, and counting 6.1 backward from 8.16.14.15.4 4 Kan 17 Yaxkin, the terminal date reached will be 13 Akbal 16 Pop, again very close to the date recorded immediately above, 13 Akbal 15 Pop. Indeed, the date as recorded, 13 Akbal 15 Pop, represents an impossible condition from the Maya point of view, since the day name Akbal could occupy only the first, sixth, eleventh, and sixteenth positions of a month. See Table [VII]. Consequently, through lack of space or carelessness the ancient scribe who painted this book failed to add one dot to the three bars of the month sign's coefficient, thus making it 16 instead of the 15 actually recorded. We are obliged to make some correction in this coefficient, since, as explained above, it is obviously incorrect as it stands. Since the addition of a single dot brings the whole date into harmony with the date determined by calculation, we are probably justified

in making the correction here suggested. We have recorded here therefore:

8.16.14.15.4 (4 Kan 17 Yaxkin)
6.1 Backward
8.16.14. 9.3 13 Akbal 16[[253]] Pop

In these calculations the terminal date of the Initial Series, 4 Kan 17 Yaxkin, is suppressed and the only date given is 13 Akbal 16 Pop, the terminal date of the Secondary Series.

The above will suffice to show the use of Initial Series in the codices, but before leaving this subject it seems best to discuss briefly the dates recorded by these Initial Series in relation to the Initial Series on the monuments. According to Professor Förstemann[[254]] there are 27 of these altogether, distributed as follows:

Page 24: 9. 9.16. 0. 0[[255]] Page 58: 9.12.11.11. 0
Page 24: 9. 9. 9.16. 0 Page 62: 8.16.15.16. 1
Page 31: 8.16.14.15. 4 Page 62: 8.16.14.15. 4
Page 31: 8.16. 3.13. 0 Page 63: 8.11. 8. 7. 0
Page 31:10.13.13. 3. 2[[256]] Page 63: 8.16. 3.13. 0
Page 43: 9.19. 8.15. 0 Page 63:10.13. 3.16. 4[[257]]
Page 45: 8.17.11. 3. 0 Page 63:10.13.13. 3. 2
Page 51: 8.16. 4. 8. 0[[258]] Page 70: 9.13.12.10. 0
Page 51:10.19. 6. 1. 8[[259]] Page 70: 9.19.11.13. 0
Page 52: 9.16. 4.11.18[[260]] Page 70:10.17.13.12.12
Page 52: 9.19. 5. 7. 8[[261]] Page 70:10.11. 3.18.14
Page 52: 9.16. 4.10. 8 Page 70: 8. 6.16.12. 0
Page 52: 9.16. 4.11. 3 Page 70: 8.16.19.10. 0
Page 58: 9.18. 2. 2. 0