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Number Systems & Place Value
Babylonian scribes compute in a base-60 place-value system, the foundation of bookkeeping, astronomy and all later mathematics.
Open in the interactive tree →Sumerians and Egyptians counted with notches and signs for 1, 10 and 100 more than 5,000 years ago. Around 2000 BC the Babylonians invented a place-value system with base 60, which is why we still have 60 minutes and 360 degrees. Only with place value can large numbers and fractions be handled systematically, which enabled trade, taxes, land surveying and astronomy.
Prerequisites
- Tally Marks & Counting~43,000 years agoTallies and tokens preceded written numerals and place value
- Writing~3200 BC
Unlocks
- Abacus & Counting Aids~2500 BC
- Deductive Proof (Greece)~600 BC
- Algorithm (Euclid)~300 BC
- Geometry (Euclid)~300 BC
- Earth measurement and maps~240 BC
- Trigonometry~150 BC
- Calendar3rd millennium BC
- Nine Chapters (China)~100 AD
- Ancient astronomy~150 AD
- Zero, Decimals & Algebra~820
- Banks & Double-Entry Bookkeeping~1340-1494
- Turing Machine1936
- Public-Key Cryptography1976
More in Mathematics · Antiquity
- Deductive Proof (Greece)~600 BC
- Geometry (Euclid)~300 BC
- Trigonometry~150 BC
- Nine Chapters (China)~100 AD