The Babylonian Number system
The Babylonian number system was developed in Mesopotamia from the Sumerians to the fall of Babylon in 539 BC. The Sumerians started with a simple number system where they wrote on soft clay tablets with a wedge shaped tool. This type of calculation was known as cuneiform. The main reason for these calculations was crops. Mesopotamia was mainly a farming community with barley being the main the crop. So they needed a way to keep track of the trading. The sign for barley started off as more of a rough tree shape, a vertical line with slanted lines on either side. After a while it transformed as the tools did to a more wedge shaped object that was pressed in to the clay multiple times.
http://www.mesopotamia.co.uk/writing/story/sto_set.html
Eventually the system was developed in to base 60 counting system. A few different things that came out of this are the 360 degrees that we use and how we count time, the hours, minutes, and seconds. It also was used for weights and measure and astronomy. This system is known as the Sexagesimal system. On one tablet has a list of all of the squares up to the square of 60. All the numbers past 60 are written as 60+. An example would be 67, it would be written as 60 +7.
The basic decimal system came out of Babylon also. They used different positions to place the integers. This idea was lost until around sixth century BC. Fractions are another idea that came out of the base 60 system. “They expressed a half as ‘30’ (30 sixieths) and ‘15’ (15 sixieths).” Greece adopted this system as the main way to record fractions. Later on however they used more of a decimal system.
This system was based in astronomy. The Babylonians wanted to have an accurate calendar so that they could track the different turning of the seasons. With the understanding of the seasons they could plant at the best time. They based their numerical system off there being 360 days in a year. They then divided this is to degrees which represented the movement of the sun throughout the sky. “They then transferred this into measuring circles by diving degrees into minutes.”
Geometry was not something that the Babylonians study much of. They had more of a trial and error system to put up buildings.
It’s most likely that the Greeks learned numerical systems from the Babylonians when Alexander the great conquered the area. It is said that he sent the records of astronomy to Aristotle to study.
Sources
The British Museum
Experiment Resources
