Quote:
Originally Posted by tanksoldier
Late to the party and just saw this.
The point of the Babylonian base 60 was that they could do more precise geometric calculations earlier in history than other cultures, without developing algebra and so on.
The precision aspect is still relevant. Many calculations resolve perfectly in base 60 that never do in base 10.
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Neither of those claims are in dispute. The claim that this current discovery of Babylonian base-60 may have profound implications for modern mathematics is what was under contention.
When I dug into the claim last time, it all seemed to come back to one academic who was trying to push his own hobby horse, so he was probably overstating the finding's significance a little.