> That large number of divisors was the reason for the Babylonians to use base-60, I've always been thaught. I believe the Babylonians actually use base 12, w

> That large number of divisors was the reason for the Babylonians to use base-60, I've always been thaught. I believe the Babylonians actually use base 12, with the number 60 merely being a convenient multiple of 12. And I think the reason their counting system is base 12 is not because of its greater divisibility, but due instead to the way they used their fingers for counting. So, in the West, we count using each of our fingers and that’s how we arrive at a base 10 counting system. But in certain parts of the world, they use one thumb to count the separate segments of the fingers on the same hand. There are three segments in each of the 4 fingers, for a total of 12 (hence the base 12). And then the five fingers of the opposite hand are used to count how many groups of 12 have been counted. So 5 fingers on the second hand multiplied by 12 finger segments on the first hand = 60 in total.