The Babylonian number system, which arose thousands of years before the advent of a new era, was the beginning of the beginning of mathematics. Despite its ancient age, it succumbed to deciphering and revealed to researchers many secrets of the Ancient East. We, too, will now plunge into the past and find out how the ancients believed.
Key Features
So, the most important thing to know is that the Babylonian number system is positional. This means that numbers are written from right to left and in descending order. Hundreds come first, then ten, then one. For ancient mathematics, this aspect is extremely important, since in Egypt, for example, the system was non-positional, and the numbers in the number were written in a chaotic manner, which caused confusion. The second characteristic is that in the Babylonian system there was a sexagesimal cyclicity. The countdown ended at every sixth ten, and in order to continue the number series, a new digit was noted, and the record began again from one. In general, the Babylonian number system is not at all complicated, evenstudent.
History of occurrence
It is authentically known that the Babylonian kingdom was built on the ruins of two powerful powers - Sumer and Akkad. From these civilizations, a lot of cultural heritage remained, which the Babylonians disposed of very wisely. From the Sumerians they borrowed a six-digit number series, in which there were digits, and from the Akkadians - tens. By combining the achievements of their ancestors, the inhabitants of the new state became the creators of a new science, which was called "mathematics". The Babylonian sexagesimal number system made it clear that positionality is an extremely important factor in writing numbers, therefore Roman, Greek and Arabic numerals were later created according to this principle. Until now, we measure values in tens, as if dividing the number into digits with their help. As for the six-fold cycle, take a look at the clock face.
Write Babylonian numerals
To memorize the numerical series of the ancient Babylonians, no special effort is required. In mathematics, they used only two signs - a vertical wedge, which denoted a unit, and a "lying" or horizontal wedge, showing a ten. Such numbers have something in common with Roman ones, where sticks, ticks and crosses are found. The number of certain wedges showed how many tens and ones in a particular number. In a similar technique, the count was made up to 59, after which a new vertical wedge was written in front of the number, whichthis time it was already counted as 60, and the discharge was noted in the form of a small comma at the top. Having ranks in their arsenal, the inhabitants of the Babylonian kingdom saved themselves from incredibly long and confusing 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 was in front of you.
Math operations
Based on the fact that the Babylonian number system was positional, addition and subtraction took place according to a familiar pattern. It was necessary to count the number of digits, tens and ones in each number and then add them up or subtract the smaller from the larger one. Interestingly, the principle of multiplication at that time was the same as today. If it was necessary to multiply small numbers, multiple additions were used. If in the example there were three or more digit indicators, a special table was used. The Babylonians invented many multiplication tables, in each of which one of the multipliers was a certain ten (20, 30, 50, 70, etc.).
From ancestors to contemporaries
After reading all this, you will probably wonder: “How did the Babylonian numeral system, examples used by the ancients, and problems come down to the hands of modern archaeologists with such accuracy?” 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 developments, including mathematical discoveries. Thisthe technique was called "cuneiform", as symbols, numbers and drawings were drawn on fresh clay with a specially sharpened blade. Upon completion of the work, the tablets were dried and put into storage, in which they could hold out to this day.
Summing up
In the above images, we clearly see what the Babylonian number system was and how it was written. Photos of clay tablets that were created in ancient times are slightly different from modern “decodings”, so to speak, 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 buildings colossal for those times, made unthinkable astronomical discoveries and built an economy thanks to which the state became prosperous and prosperous.
