Many of the tablets concern topics which, although not containing deep mathematics, nevertheless are fascinating. The later Babylonians adopted the same style of cuneiform writing on clay tablets. It was the use of a stylus on a clay medium that led to the use of cuneiform symbols since curved lines could not be drawn. Their symbols were written on wet clay tablets which were baked in the hot sun and many thousands of these tablets have survived to this day. The Sumerians had developed an abstract form of writing based on cuneiform (i.e. However the Babylonian civilisation, whose mathematics is the subject of this article, replaced that of the Sumerians from around 2000 BC The Babylonians were a Semitic people who invaded Mesopotamia defeating the Sumerians and by about 1900 BC establishing their capital at Babylon. The Sumerians, however, revolted against Akkadian rule and by 2100 BC they were back in control. The Akkadians invented the abacus as a tool for counting and they developed somewhat clumsy methods of arithmetic with addition, subtraction, multiplication and division all playing a part. Around 2300 BC the Akkadians invaded the area and for some time the more backward culture of the Akkadians mixed with the more advanced culture of the Sumerians. Writing developed and counting was based on a sexagesimal system, that is to say base 60. This was an advanced civilisation building cities and supporting the people with irrigation systems, a legal system, administration, and even a postal service. The region had been the centre of the Sumerian civilisation which flourished before 3500 BC. Here is a map of the region where the civilisation flourished. The Babylonians lived in Mesopotamia, a fertile plain between the Tigris and Euphrates rivers.
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