The Babylonian number system: the principle of construction and examples

The Babylonian number system, which arose thousands of years before the onset of the new era, was the beginning of the beginning of mathematics. Despite its most ancient age, it succumbed to decoding and revealed to the researchers many secrets of the Ancient East. We, too, will now plunge into the past and find out what the ancients thought.

Main characteristics

So, the most important thing to know is that the Babylonian number system is positional. This means that the numbers are written from right to left and in descending order. In the first place is a hundred, then a dozen, and then a unit. For ancient mathematics, this aspect is extremely important, as in Egypt, for example, the system was non-positional, and the numbers in the number were recorded in a chaotic order, which caused confusion. The second characteristic - in the Babylonian system there was a sexagesimal cycle. The count ended at every sixth dozen, and to continue the number series, a new category was marked, and the recording started again from one. In general, the Babylonian number system is not at all complicated, even a schoolboy will be able to master it.

History of occurrence

It is well known that the Babylonian kingdom was built on the ruins of two powerful powers - Sumer and Akkad. From these civilizations there are a lot of cultural heritage, which the Babylonians very wisely ordered. In the Sumerians, they borrowed a six-line numerical series in which discharges were present, and the Akkadians had dozens. Combining the work of their ancestors, the inhabitants of the new state became the creators of a new science, which was called "mathematics." The Babylonian sexagesimal numbering system made it clear that positionalism is an extremely important factor in the recording of numbers, therefore in the future Roman, Greek and Arabic numerals were created on this principle. Till now we measure the values by tens, as if dividing with their help the number on the digits. But as for the six-cycle, then take a look at the clock face.

Record Babylonian Figures

To remember the numerical series of the ancient Babylonians, special efforts will not have to be applied. In mathematics, they used only two signs - a vertical wedge, which denoted the unit, and a "recumbent" or horizontal wedge showing a dozen. These figures have something in common with the Roman, where there are sticks, ticks and crosses. The number of these or those wedges showed how many tens and units in a particular number. In such a technique, the count was made up to 59, after which a new vertical wedge was recorded before the number, which this time was already considered as 60, and a discharge was noted in the form of a small comma at the top. Having in their arsenal ranks, the inhabitants of the Babylonian kingdom rid themselves of the incredibly long and intricate numbers-hieroglyphs. It was enough to count the number of small commas and wedges that were between them, as it immediately became clear what number is in front of you.

Mathematical Operations

Proceeding from the fact that the Babylonian number system was positional, the addition and subtraction occurred according to the scheme familiar to us. It was necessary to count the number of digits, tens and units in each number and after folding them or taking away less from the larger one. It is interesting that the principle of multiplication at that time was the same as today. If it was necessary to multiply small numbers, they used a multiple addition. If the example contained three or more significant indicators, they used a special table. Babylonians invented a lot of multiplication tables, in each of which one of the factors was a certain dozen (20, 30, 50, 70, etc.).

From ancestors to contemporaries

After reading all this, you will probably be asked the question: "How did the Babylonian number system, the examples used by the ancients, and the tasks reached such precision to the hands of modern archaeologists?" The thing is that unlike other civilizations that used papyrus and Scraps of cloth, the Babylonians used clay tablets on which they wrote down all their achievements, including mathematical discoveries. This technique was called "cuneiform", because on the fresh clay a specially sharpened blade was used to display symbols, numbers and figures. At the end of the work, the plates were dried and put in storage, in which they could hold out to this day.

Summarizing

In the above images, we clearly see what it was like and how the Babylonian number system was recorded. Photo clay tablets that were created in ancient times, a little different from the modern so-called "decoding", but the principle remains the same. For Babylon, the emergence of mathematics was an inevitable factor, since this civilization was one of the leading in the world. They erected huge buildings at that time, made incredible astronomical discoveries and built the economy, thanks to which the state became prosperous and prosperous.