Babylonian Base-60 Converter

How it is calculated

The tool repeatedly divides the whole number by 60. Each remainder (0 to 59) is one sexagesimal digit, found with digit = n mod 60 followed by n = ⌊n ÷ 60⌋ until n reaches 0. The remainders are then read in reverse order, so the last one found is the leftmost, most significant digit. Digits are written in ordinary decimal and separated by commas, and the tool also reports how many base-60 digits there are. The place values are 60⁰ = 1, 60¹ = 60, 60² = 3,600 and so on. Input is rounded to the nearest whole number (59.6 becomes 60, shown as 1,0), negative numbers give no result, and 0 is shown as a single 0.

Common mistakes

• Reading the commas as decimal commas or thousands separators. In 2,3,4 each comma only separates the base-60 digits; it is not 2.34 or 234.
• Reading each digit as a separate decimal digit. A base-60 digit can be as high as 59, so "1,59" means 1 × 60 + 59 = 119, not 159.
• Entering a fraction and expecting a sexagesimal fraction. The tool handles whole numbers only and rounds anything else, so 59.6 becomes 60.
• Expecting empty places to vanish. A zero in a middle place stays in the output (3600 is 1,0,0); the Babylonians themselves marked it only with a gap or later a placeholder sign, so original tablets can be ambiguous.
• Confusing it with hours, minutes and seconds. 7384 seconds is 2:03:04 as a clock reading, which resembles 2,3,4 here, but the tool is a pure place-value conversion.