The Numeration System
They worked
out a calendar for the year along with developed units of measurement.
As early as 2500 B.C. the Babylonians had established standards for length,
weight, and volume.
Mathematical
and astronomical texts show that the Babylonians came up with the 360 degree
circle and also the 60 minute hour. The Babylonians could predict eclipses
of the sun and moon. They understood such things as fractions, squares,
and square roots.
Two of the mathematicians
from Babylonia are Nabu - rimanni and Kidinu. Not much is known about them.
All historians know about them is that Nabu - rimanni was from around 490
B.C. and Kidinu was from around 480 B.C.
The Babylonian
numeration system began about 5,000 years ago. The Babylonians were more
advanced in math and astronomy then the Egyptians. An early numeration
system was developed and based on 10. There was also a system based on
60. The Babylonian system is one of the oldest math systems.
The first mathematics
can be traced to the ancient country of Babylon, during the third millennium
B.C.
The system first
started with tally marks just like most of the ancient math systems did.
The Babylonian system contained 60 characters. Their symbols for their
numbers were wedge shaped. They used an instrument and pressed it into
wet clay. After that they would put these clay tablets in the sun and let
them bake. This kind of writing was called cuneiform. The word comes from
Latin words meaning "wedge shape".
Any number less then 10 had a wedge
that pointed down.
The number 10 was symbolized
by a wedge pointing to the left.
Numbers less then 60 were made
by combing the symbols of 1 and 10.
The Babylonian system
also had units. They did not have a symbol for zero, but the idea of zero
was used.
When Babylonians wanted to express
zero they just left a blank space in the number they were writing. When
they wrote "60" they would put a single tally mark in the second place
of the numeral. If they would put 2 tally marks in the second place of
the numeral this would of meant 2 sixties or 120.
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