re [tied] How many miles to Babylon? [Was: Numerals query again]

Not sure whether the subject line refers just to the nursery rhyme or
goes further back to the Babylonian system which is supposed to
underlie time divisions and angular measurements.

best wishes,


Gordon
<gordonselway@...>

At 11:14 pm +0100 06/11/2003, Piotr Gasiorowski wrote:

>06-11-03 22:31, Richard Wordingham wrote:
> > And Larry Trask's question explains the silence. Most of Alex's
>questions can be answered, but > it is difficult to explain the use
>of vigesimal systems.
>
>Not so much its use as its origin and spread in Europe. '20' is a
>natural kind of base, like '10' and '5'. Systems with vigesimal
>features are found e.g. in Central America. I doubt, however, if
>there are any _strictly_ vigesimal systems anywhere -- in all the
>cases known to me we have basically quinary or decimal systems with
>'20' as an auxiliary base.
>
>Piotr