BABYLONIAN

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MATHEMATIC
Exploring the Hexadecimal
System
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Introduction
The Babylonians were pioneers in the field of
mathematics, developing concepts that are still
relevant today. They used a base-60 numeral system,
which allowed them to perform complex
calculations with ease. In fact, they were able to
calculate astronomical positions and predict eclipses
with remarkable accuracy using this system.
The Babylonians lived in
Mesopotamia, a fertile plain
between the Tigris and Euphrates
rivers.

Present day Iraq

Babylonian civilization began

around 2000 B.C.
 Babylonians Mathematics

 Babylonian Math is more on

Algebra and less Geometry
 They were the first to solve
quadratic equations using almost
the formula as we use today
 They could extract square roots and
cube roots. In fact, they found out
the square root of 2 almost to it’s
exact value
 Sexagesimal System

Babylonians use a
sexagesimal system
It was a positional system
with a base of 60 rather than
the system with base 10 in
widespread use today.
 The Babylonians divided the day into 24
hours, each hour into 60 minutes, each minute
into 60 seconds. This form of counting has
survived for 4000 years. To write 5h 25' 30", i.e. 5
hours, 25 minutes, 30 seconds, is just to write the
sexagesimal fraction, . We adopt the notation 5;
25, 30 for this sexagesimal number.