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Overview

Mesopotamian (Babylonian) System

April 10, 2024
1 min read
babylonian base-60 place-value

Sexagesimal System (Base-60)

The Mesopotamians used Base-60. This legacy survives today in how we measure time (60 seconds = 1 minute) and angles (360 degrees).

Symbols

They used only two basic marks made by a stylus on clay:

  1. Pin/Wedge (▽\triangledown): Represents 1.
  2. Hook/Angle (<): Represents 10.
110

Place Value

Numbers were written in groups. The value depended on the position (powers of 60).

Example: 640

640=(10×60)+40640 = (10 \times 60) + 40
  • Left Group (60s place): Hook (10) representing 10×6010 \times 60.
  • Right Group (1s place): 4 Hooks (40).
Warning

The Zero Problem: Initially, they had no zero. A blank space was used, which could be confusing. Later, a placeholder symbol was introduced, but it wasn’t a full zero number like we use today.