Why Did the Babylonians Use Base 60?
In short: The Babylonians inherited counting in 60s from earlier peoples and made it powerful with place-value notation, but why anyone chose 60 in the first place is still unknown.
A 1:23 short film in the series “From Fingers to Qubits”, narrated by intellect_voice_01.
Sources used in this film: MacTutor History of Mathematics, University of St Andrews, “Babylonian numerals - MacTutor History of Mathematics”; BBC News (BBC World Service, '50 Things That Made the Modern Economy' by Tim Harford), “How the world's first accountants counted on cuneiform”; Denise Schmandt-Besserat, University of Texas at Austin (sites.utexas.edu), “Tokens: their Significance for the Origin of Counting and Writing”; Denise Schmandt-Besserat (University of Texas at Austin faculty site); chapter originally published by the Royal Numismatic Society, Special Publication No 51, 2019, “The Invention of Tokens | Denise Schmandt-Besserat”; Springer (Archive for History of Exact Sciences); article by Jöran Friberg, 2019, “Three thousand years of sexagesimal numbers in Mesopotamian mathematical texts”; Elsevier (Historia Mathematica, via ScienceDirect), “The antecedents of old Babylonian place notation and the early history of Babylonian mathematics”; Princeton University Press, “Mathematics in Ancient Iraq”; Project MUSE (Johns Hopkins University Press), listing a book by Eleanor Robson published by Princeton University Press, “Project MUSE - Mathematics in Ancient Iraq”; Scientific American (Ask the Experts answer by Michael A. Lombardi, NIST Time and Frequency Division; PDF hosted by NIST), “http://www.sciam.com/print_version.cfm?articleID=231B40A6-E7F2-”.
Sources used in this film
- MacTutor History of Mathematics, University of St Andrews — Babylonian numerals - MacTutor History of Mathematics · View →
- BBC News (BBC World Service, '50 Things That Made the Modern Economy' by Tim Harford) — How the world's first accountants counted on cuneiform · View →
- Denise Schmandt-Besserat, University of Texas at Austin (sites.utexas.edu) — Tokens: their Significance for the Origin of Counting and Writing · View →
- Denise Schmandt-Besserat (University of Texas at Austin faculty site); chapter originally published by the Royal Numismatic Society, Special Publication No 51, 2019 — The Invention of Tokens | Denise Schmandt-Besserat · View →
- Springer (Archive for History of Exact Sciences); article by Jöran Friberg, 2019 — Three thousand years of sexagesimal numbers in Mesopotamian mathematical texts · View →
- Elsevier (Historia Mathematica, via ScienceDirect) — The antecedents of old Babylonian place notation and the early history of Babylonian mathematics · View →
- Princeton University Press — Mathematics in Ancient Iraq · View →
- Project MUSE (Johns Hopkins University Press), listing a book by Eleanor Robson published by Princeton University Press — Project MUSE - Mathematics in Ancient Iraq · View →
- Scientific American (Ask the Experts answer by Michael A. Lombardi, NIST Time and Frequency Division; PDF hosted by NIST) — http://www.sciam.com/print_version.cfm?articleID=231B40A6-E7F2- · View →
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Sources
- Summary by Intellect · source: MacTutor History of Mathematics, University of St Andrews: Babylonian numerals
- Also: BBC News (BBC World Service, '50 Things That Made the Modern Economy', by Tim Harford): How the world's first accountants counted on cuneiform
- Also: Denise Schmandt-Besserat, University of Texas at Austin (sites.utexas.edu): Tokens: their Significance for the Origin of Counting and Writing
- Also: Denise Schmandt-Besserat (University of Texas at Austin faculty site); chapter originally published by the Royal Numisma: The Invention of Tokens | Denise Schmandt-Besserat
- Also: Springer Nature (Archive for History of Exact Sciences), article by Jöran Friberg, 2019: Three thousand years of sexagesimal numbers in Mesopotamian mathematical texts
- Also: Elsevier (Historia Mathematica, via ScienceDirect): The antecedents of old Babylonian place notation and the early history of Babylonian mathematics
- Also: Princeton University Press: Mathematics in Ancient Iraq
- Also: Project MUSE (Johns Hopkins University Press), listing a book by Eleanor Robson published by Princeton University Press: Project MUSE - Mathematics in Ancient Iraq
- Also: Scientific American (Ask the Experts answer by Michael A. Lombardi, NIST Time and Frequency Division; PDF hosted by NIST: http://www.sciam.com/print_version.cfm?articleID=231B40A6-E7F2-
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