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Sexagesimal, also known as base 60, [1] is a numeral system with sixty as its base. It originated with the ancient Sumerians in the 3rd millennium BC, was passed down to the ancient Babylonians , and is still used—in a modified form—for measuring time , angles , and geographic coordinates .
Plainly it is based on the number of digits on a human hand. It may also be regarded as a sub-base of other bases, such as base-10, base-20, and base-60. A base-8 system was devised by the Yuki tribe of Northern California, who used the spaces between the fingers to count, corresponding to the digits one through eight. [22]
"A base is a natural number B whose powers (B multiplied by itself some number of times) are specially designated within a numerical system." [1]: 38 The term is not equivalent to radix, as it applies to all numerical notation systems (not just positional ones with a radix) and most systems of spoken numbers. [1]
In mathematics, change of base can mean any of several things: . Changing numeral bases, such as converting from base 2 to base 10 ().This is known as base conversion.; The logarithmic change-of-base formula, one of the logarithmic identities used frequently in algebra and calculus.
By using a dot to divide the digits into two groups, one can also write fractions in the positional system. For example, the base 2 numeral 10.11 denotes 1×2 1 + 0×2 0 + 1×2 −1 + 1×2 −2 = 2.75. In general, numbers in the base b system are of the form:
For base ten, the subscript is usually assumed and omitted (together with the enclosing parentheses), as it is the most common way to express value. For example, (100) 10 is equivalent to 100 (the decimal system is implied in the latter) and represents the number one hundred, while (100) 2 (in the binary system with base 2) represents the ...
These digits were used to represent larger numbers in the base 60 (sexagesimal) positional system. For example, 𒁹𒁹 𒌋𒌋𒁹𒁹𒁹 𒁹𒁹𒁹 would represent 2×60 2 +23×60+3 = 8583. A space was left to indicate a place without value, similar to the modern-day zero. Babylonians later devised a sign to represent this empty place.
Conversion of (357) 10 to binary notation results in (101100101) To convert from a base-10 integer to its base-2 (binary) equivalent, the number is divided by two. The remainder is the least-significant bit. The quotient is again divided by two; its remainder becomes the next least significant bit.