Speculative Phase:
I suspect the Babylonians chose base 60 because it has a lot of factors, many of which are prime. This would make converting fractions to a sexagesimal expansion among other reasons. When I was in high school, my grade 12 math teacher asked us to try converting angle measurements to gradians and compare to degrees. Having 400 degrees in a seems intuitive at first, but when we try to divide the circle into thirds or sixths, then we can start to get really cumbersome decimal expansions.
Off the top of my head, I can think of a few places where we still use base 60. One such instance would be telling the time (60 seconds in a minute, 60 minutes in an hour). Another place we still use base 60 would be measuring angles (360° in a full revolution) like I alluded to earlier.
Research Phase:
After a bit of internet searching, it seems like my suspicions were correct. Base 10 is quite convenient and intuitive for regular counting. Ancient astronomers/mathematicians found using a sexigesimal system better as the base was more robust for dividing/doing calculations. Our calendar also likely stems from base 60, as ancient astronomers believed the sun moved 1 degree across the sky every day.
Jaden, you gave a very clear explanation of why base 60 is useful, and I especially liked your comparison to gradians—it shows that other systems can feel intuitive at first but become less practical for division. Your examples of time and angles were also strong. In your research phase, you connected well to astronomy and calendars, which was great. One suggestion would be to expand on how Babylonians actually applied base 60 in daily life (trade, weights, or recording numbers), which would make your answer more historically grounded.
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