3 ms·
The Sumerians and Babylonians used base 60 numbering (probably for its divisibility). That led to our time system (also angle measurement)
by askvictor 3y ago
The Sumerians and Babylonians used base 60 numbering (probably for its divisibility). That led to our time system (also angle measurement)
- mjevans 3y agoWhile trying to consider why they might have selected 60 I started to wonder where the prime factors went, or rather might have come from; since it's already clear why they were useful for divisions. Dividing a circle into quadrants consumes 2 and 2, and is similar to folding. Similarly 3 (like the thirds letter for envelope technique) could be the next granularity of folding. Finally the 5 is short enough that some straw or string bent enough times to divide it into fifths could approximate sufficiently useful precision.