converting numbers to babylonian numerals

Babylonians later devised a sign to represent this empty place. A space was left to indicate a place without value, similar to the modern-day zero. These symbols and their values were combined to form a digit in a sign-value notation quite similar to that of Roman numerals for example, the combination represented the digit for 23 (see table of digits above). Only two symbols ( to count units and to count tens) were used to notate the 59 non-zero digits. This was an extremely important development because non-place-value systems require unique symbols to represent each power of a base (ten, one hundred, one thousand, and so forth), which can make calculations more difficult. The Babylonian system is credited as being the first known positional numeral system, in which the value of a particular digit depends both on the digit itself and its position within the number. However, the use of a special Sumerian sign for 60 (beside two Semitic signs for the same number) attests to a relation with the Sumerian system. This system first appeared around 2000 BC its structure reflects the decimal lexical numerals of Semitic languages rather than Sumerian lexical numbers. Neither of the predecessors was a positional system (having a convention for which 'end' of the numeral represented the units).

The Babylonians, who were famous for their astronomical observations, as well as their calculations (aided by their invention of the abacus), used a sexagesimal (base-60) positional numeral system inherited from either the Sumerian or the Akkadian civilizations. Assyro-Chaldean Babylonian cuneiform numerals were written in cuneiform, using a wedge-tipped reed stylus to make a mark on a soft clay tablet which would be exposed in the sun to harden to create a permanent record.

Converting numbers to babylonian numerals