Grant Edwards wrote: ... > Did they actually have 60 unique number symbols and use > place-weighting in a manner similar to the arabic/indian system > we use?
The Bablyonians did use a place-value system, but they only had two basic numerals: a Y-like symbol for 1 and a <-like symbol for ten. These were combined to make base-60 digits. For example, 59 was represented by < YYY < < YYY < < YYY Zero (used as a placeholder, but not as a number in itself) was represented by a space. -- http://mail.python.org/mailman/listinfo/python-list
