cuneiform - milwaukee montessori school · cuneiform mesopotamian writing and math. the sumerians...
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Clay tablets and stylus
Clay tablets where formed by hand and left in the sun to dry.
A stylus was used by a scribe to write on a clay tablet. They were made of wood and sharpened into a point at one end and a wedge at the other.
Numbers
- numbers were made before the alphabet
- Recorded things like - Taxes- Land sales- Loans- Trade agreements- Inheritances
Math
- Based on 60 (sexagesimal number system)
- The symbol (a wedge turned sideways) meant 10
- The symbol (a vertical wedge) meant 1
- 1 and 60 are the same symbol
- 60 is divisible by these 12 number: - 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 10, 12, 15, 20, 30, 60
Mathematicians
- First to divide time into - Day = 24 hours- Hour = 60 minutes- Minute = 60 seconds
- Frist to divide a circle into 360 degrees
- Prime factorization of 60- 2x2x3x5
200 BCE Mesopotamian Sundial