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The Babylonians, who lived about 3000 B.C., worked with numbers to base 60. This means that they used 60 in the same way as we use 10 today. The first two places after their sexagesimal point were called the first minute part, and the second minute part. It is from here that we obtain our time units minute and second, and the division of the hour and minute into 60 equal parts.
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The Babylonian numerals are illustrated above. Representations of other numbers were obtained in the obvious way by simply placing the given symbols together. Despite the sophistication of their system, there were two major deficiencies: no symbol for zero, and no means of defining ‘place’.
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