Cultural Number Systems
The Babylonian number system had a base of sixty, inherited from the Sumerian and Akkadian civilizations, and possibly motivated by the large number of divisors which 60 has. The sexagesimal measurement of time and of geometric angles is a legacy of the Babylonian system.
The number system in the Mali Empire was also based on sixty (this is reflected in the counting system of the Maasina Fulfulde, a variant of the Fula language spoken in contemporary Mali). The Ekagi of Western New Guinea have also used base 60, and the sexagenary cycle also plays a role in Chinese calendar and numerology.
In German: Schock and in Latin: sexagena refer to 60 = 5 dozen = 1/2 small gross. This quantity was used in international medieval treaties e.g. for ransom of captured Teutonic Knights.
Read more about this topic: 60 (number)
Famous quotes containing the words cultural, number and/or systems:
“If in the earlier part of the century, middle-class children suffered from overattentive mothers, from being “mother’s only accomplishment,” today’s children may suffer from an underestimation of their needs. Our idea of what a child needs in each case reflects what parents need. The child’s needs are thus a cultural football in an economic and marital game.”
—Arlie Hochschild (20th century)
“Among a hundred windows shining
dully in the vast side
of greater-than-palace number such-and-such
one burns
these several years, each night
as if the room within were aflame.”
—Denise Levertov (b. 1923)
“People stress the violence. That’s the smallest part of it. Football is brutal only from a distance. In the middle of it there’s a calm, a tranquility. The players accept pain. There’s a sense of order even at the end of a running play with bodies stewn everywhere. When the systems interlock, there’s a satisfaction to the game that can’t be duplicated. There’s a harmony.”
—Don Delillo (b. 1926)