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I was told that we chose the decimal system because we have 10 fingers and it makes it easier to count (which in itself is not a very convincing argumat to me).

But then why did the babylonians used a system which was on base 60.

Why was it that this system stopped and we switched to the decimal because at that time, when it was prevalent, it would have been really difficult for people to switch to a different system.

Why is this confusing (for us) still used in places like angle or time. Why were they not changed to the decimal system too.

Mr.HiggsBoson
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    The more divisors a number system has, the "easier" division is in that system. $60$ has a ton of divisors. – Jürgen Sukumaran Jul 10 '19 at 09:37
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    I suggest that you post that question here. – José Carlos Santos Jul 10 '19 at 09:43
  • There might not be sufficient historical evidence to answer "why".... They also expressed fractions with this system, with a "decimal" point, and a symbol for zero. A thousand years before the clumsy primitive Roman numerals. The modern decimal system only began in India about 15 centuries ago and soon reached China but was not in use in Europe until the Middle Ages. – DanielWainfleet Jul 10 '19 at 11:35

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