The Development of

Mathematics: Ancient
Period
The Babylonian Era
• History
• Geography
• Number Systems
• Materials they used in Mathematics
• Converting their number system to Hindu Arabic
• Converting Hindu Arabic to their Number system
The History of Babylon
• The Babylon was the capital city of the ancient
Babylonian Empire, which itself is a term reffering to
either of two seperate empires in the Mesopotamia are in
antiquity. This two empires achieved regional dominance
between 19th and 15th centuries BC, and again between
7th and 6th centuries BC. The city is built along both
banks of the Euphrates river and steep embankments to
contain the river’s seasonal floods. The earliest known
mention of Babylon as a small town appears on a clay
tablet from the reign of Sagron of Akkad(2334-2279 BC)
of Akkadian Empire.
• The site of the ancient city lies just south present-day
Baghdad. The last know record of habitation of the town
dates from the 10th century AD, when it was reffered to as
the “small village of Babel”.
The Geography of Babylon
• Geographically, the empire of Babylonia occupied the
middle and southern part of Mesopotamia. It is situated
between the river’s of Tigris and Euphrates, it stretched
from the present-day city of Baghdad south of Persian
Gulf.
• The remains if the city are in present-day. Hillah, Babil
Governate, Iraq, about 85 kilometers(53 miles) south of
Baghdad, comprising a large tell of broken mud-brick
buildings and debris.
Babylonian Empre Mesopotamia
Euphrates
The Babylonians Number Systems

• The Babylonians, who were famous for their

astronomical observations, as well as their
calculations(aided by their invention of
Abacus), used a sexagesimal(Base 60)
positional numeral system inherited from
either the Sumerian or the Akkadian
civilizations.
Sexagesimal
Materials they use in Mathematics

• Babylonian Mathematics (Also known as

Assyro-Babylonian Mathematics) are the
mathematics or pracitced by the people of
Mesopotamia from the days of the early
Sumerians to the centuries following the fall of
Babylon in 539 BC.
Babylonian Clay Tablet
Cuneiform Script
Abacus/ The Salamis Tablet (Babylon)
Converting Sexagesimal(Base 60) to Hindu Arabic

Converting Hindu Arabic to Sexagesimal(Base 60)