math people question!

[thanate]

I keep meaning to ask someone-- is there a word for number systems like time that are in base 10, but have the next unit skip at 60 or whatever instead of 100? In my head I call it " base 10, big base 60," but I'm pretty sure this is just something I came up with in elementary school when I was learning about the concept, and I don't know if I've ever heard a real term for the phenomenon.

Comments

[scraun23.livejournal.com]

It's still base 60, actually. just because the numbers 10-59 are just represented as their decimal equivalents is not relevant. What's relevant is when it turns over. So I guess it would be sexagesimal (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sexagesimal#Usage).

[thanate.livejournal.com]

Oh, of course. That makes sense-- thanks.