upright=1.8|thumb|Babylonian cuneiform numerals

The numeral system of the Babylonians, also used in Assyria and Chaldea, was written in cuneiform using a wedge-tipped reed stylus to print a mark on a soft clay tablet, which would be exposed in the sun to harden to create a permanent record.

The Babylonians were famous for their astronomical observations, as well as their calculations (aided by their invention of the abacus), and used a sexagesimal (base-60) number system inherited from either the Sumerian or the Akkadian civilizations. The Babylonian system, however, was positional (having a convention for which "end" of the numeral represented the units).

Origin

This system first appeared around 2000 BC; However, the use of a special Sumerian sign for 60 (beside two Semitic signs for the same number)

A common theory is that 60, a superior highly composite number (the previous and next in the series being 12 and 120), was chosen due to its prime factorization: 2×2×3×5, which makes it divisible by 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 10, 12, 15, 20, 30, and 60. Integers and fractions were represented identically—a radix point was not written but rather made clear by context.

Zero

The Babylonians did not technically have a digit for, nor a concept of, the number zero. Although they understood the idea of nothingness, it was not seen as a number—merely the lack of a number. Later Babylonian texts used a placeholder (File:Babylonian digit 0.svg) to represent zero, but only in the medial positions, and not on the right-hand side of the number, as is done in numbers like .

See also

  • Babylon
  • Babylonia
  • Babylonian mathematics
  • Cuneiform (Unicode block)
  • History of zero
  • Numeral system

References

Bibliography

  • Babylonian numerals
  • Cuneiform numbers
  • Babylonian Mathematics
  • High resolution photographs, descriptions, and analysis of the root(2) tablet (YBC 7289) from the Yale Babylonian Collection
  • Photograph, illustration, and description of the root(2) tablet from the Yale Babylonian Collection
  • Babylonian Numerals by Michael Schreiber, Wolfram Demonstrations Project.
  • CESCNC – a handy and easy-to use numeral converter