Use of zero as a place holder.
Both make use of a zero symbol but Mayan numbers have 20 as a base whereas Hindu-Arabic numbers have 10 as a base.
But no facts have been given to decided which is true about Arabic numerals and so therefore an answer is not possible although it is true that Arabic numerals contain a zero symbol which makes arithmetic a lot easier.
A positional number system is one where the position of a digit is significant to its value. For instance, the Hindu-Arabic system denotes the decimal symbol 42 to mean forty tens and two units, the sum of which gives us the number forty-two. Note that 42 is not a number, it is a symbol; forty-two is the actual number represented by that symbol. The digits in the symbol are valued according to their position, hence the Hindu-Arabic system is a positional number system. The Hindu-Arabic system can be applied to any numeric base, whether binary (base 2), octal (base 8), decimal (base 10), hexadecimal (base 16) or sexagesimal (base 60). When working with integer values (whole numbers), the digits from right-to-left represent an increasing power of the base, starting from 0. When working with fractions of a unit, the digits from left-to-right represent a decreasing power of the base, starting from -1. Multiplying the digit by its positional value gives its actual value within the symbol. By contrast, the Roman numeral system is non-positional, because the physical position of a digit within a symbol has no bearing on its value. An X always denotes the value ten regardless of where it appears within the symbol. Non-positional systems typically do not have a symbol to represent the value zero. The reason is not that the notion of "nothing" didn't exist, it was simply that you do not need a symbol for zero when counting or making a tally; you only count the things you have, not what you do not have. Hence the natural numbers (counting numbers) begin at one, not zero. However, in positional systems, you need a place-holder to denote that a position has no value. In some systems a space would be used, but in Hindu-Arabic, the digit 0 is used. Thus the decimal symbol 402 denotes that the value has no tens.
Zero is "divisible" by all whole numbers, but as the process is irreversible (you cannot divide by zero), I've always thought zero as "outside the system" of factoring.
Use of zero.
The Indian sub-continent where the zero symbol came from
Use of zero as a place holder.
Mayan
Both make use of a zero symbol but Mayan numbers have 20 as a base whereas Hindu-Arabic numbers have 10 as a base.
Because the Hindu-Arabic numeral system contains a zero symbol thus facilitating the speed and ease of arithmetical calculations.
Because the Hindu-Arabic numeral system contained a zero symbol which made mathematical calculations a lot simpler than the Roman numeral system which didn't have a zero symbol.
The 0 figure had its origins from the ancient Indian system of numeracy which was later called the Hindu-Arabic numeral system.
It is a position holder which allows you to distinguish between 405 and 45, for example.
It originated from the Indian subcontinent where the concept of zero was introduced into numbers what today we now call the Hindu-Arabic numeral system.
Because Hindu-Arabic numerals contains a zero symbol which makes arithmetic a lot easier to calculate whereas Roman numerals have no zero symbol thus making arithmetic more difficult to calculate.
Hindu-Arabic numerals: 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 and 9 Roman numerals: I V X L C D and M The main difference between the numeral systems is that the Hindu-Arabic system needs a zero symbol for positional place value purposes whereas the Roman system does not need a zero symbol because the values of its numerals are self evident.