My thoughts on the use of Base 60 in Babylonian Math

Prior to further researching,

1) I think the reason for a base 60 is that the value itself is divisible by the common prime number of 2, 3, 5. The values of 2 and 3 are commonly used in low value counting, 5 being the value which can be counted through a single hand or foot. For the same reason, 60 allows more natural division than 10 (which is 2 and 5 only).

2) In system of time, 12 and 60 are heavily used. Hour is counted in the multiple of 12, while Minute and Second are counted in the multiple of 60. There are 12 Chinese Zodiac or regular Zodiac signs, moreover, the seasons in Chinese calendars are separated into 24 solar terms. There are also other cultures which use multiple of 12 to track cycles.

After researching online,

1) I learned that the groups which became Sumerian had 2 systems, base 5 and base 12. The product of the two system was a base 60 system. Similar to my speculation, the most prevalent use of a base 5, base 12 and base 60 system is counting time.

The research was based on https://www.thoughtco.com/why-we-still-use-babylonian-mathematics-116679

Comments

  1. Erica HuangOctober 4, 2024 at 3:52 PM

    Great points, Raymond! I like how you connect with your Chinese heritage in the speculative phase. Thanks for including the link to the resource!

    ReplyDelete

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