this post was submitted on 03 Aug 2023
2858 points (96.9% liked)

Strange Planet by Nathan W. Pyle

7122 readers
1 users here now

A community dedicated to Strange Planet comics by Nathan W. Pyle.

founded 1 year ago
MODERATORS
[email protected]
2858
logical (lemmy.world)
submitted 1 year ago by [email protected] to c/[email protected]
592 comments fedilink hide all child comments
 
you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments
[–] [email protected] 6 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (2 children)

The Egyptians and Babylonians counted in base 12. They did so by counting each section of the fingers on one hand with their thumb (4 fingers, 3 sections each = 12).

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 year ago

From what I understand they used base 60. They counted each finger section on one hand with each of the fingers on the other (5x12)

[–] [email protected] 0 points 1 year ago

I have noticed old people in India who are used to counting like that as well.