Base 60 (Sexagesimal) Numbering system
The Sumerian culture developed the Sexagesimal Numberbing system some 4000 to 6000 years ago. This system was developed into a rigoruous numbering system. The digits used were symbols which represented syllables instead of letters that were pressed into clay tablets. There were symbols representing ones and tens and were combined to represent the number of each place value. See the following site for more information about the Sumerian numbering system. http://it.stlawu.edu/~dmelvill/mesomath/index.html
Each place value to the left is equal to 60 times the place value to the right which implies that each place value to the right is equal to the place value to the left divided by 60. It was up to the context of the number to determine where the place values began. Also, the place values may be fractions of base 60 numbers, ie. 1/60, 1/3600, etc.
3600, 60, 1, 1/60, 1/3600
The use of 60 as a grouping number was used by many cultures throughout our earth's history. This may be because 60 has many factors, including 12 (which also has many factors) and was convenient to use for trading, counting, etc. because of its divisibility. Our notations of time into 60 seconds and 60 minutes uses a from of this numbering system, but is not as rigorous because of the 24 for hours and the subdivisions of seconds into milliseconds, etc.
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Last update on 01/26/98
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