60
60 divides by 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 10, 12, 15, 20 and 30 — which is why an hour has 60 minutes, a minute 60 seconds and a circle 360 degrees. All three descend from Babylonian sexagesimal arithmetic by way of Greek astronomy.
- Even
- Composite
Where 60 fits
Why 60 is special
60's exceptional divisor count (12 divisors) is the practical reason ancient Babylon chose it as a counting base still used in timekeeping today.
Same number, different meanings
How 60 is understood across different contexts — never implying one meaning because of another.
- Mathematics
60's exceptional divisor count (12 divisors) is the practical reason ancient Babylon chose it as a counting base still used in timekeeping today.
- History
Sixty was chosen by Babylonian mathematicians for its divisibility, and it still governs how time and angles are measured. Almost nothing else from that period survives in daily use unchanged.
- Science
Cobalt-60 emits high-energy gamma rays and is used for radiotherapy, industrial radiography and sterilisation of medical supplies. Its 5.27-year half-life requires periodic source replacement.
- Culture
France introduced decimal time during the Revolution and abandoned it within two years. Sixty minutes and sixty seconds survived because clocks, tables and habits were already built around them, not because the division is better.
- Technology & computing
The mains frequency is 60 hertz (North America and parts of Asia and South America). Most of the world uses 50 hertz instead. Neither is better; the split is an artefact of which manufacturers electrified which countries, and it is why clocks driven from the mains ran fast or slow when equipment was moved between them.
- Everyday life
60 divides both the minute into seconds and the hour into minutes, and 60 nautical miles span one degree of latitude. These are inherited conventions rather than natural units — they descend from Babylonian sexagesimal counting, not from any physical property of time.
Not just a mathematical number
60is also used in ways where ordinary arithmetic doesn't apply — each listed below with what genuinely does and doesn't follow from it.
- Mathematical number
A genuine quantity — its mathematical properties (prime, square, factors, and so on) are real facts about it.
A genuine quantity that ordinary arithmetic applies to — it can be prime, even, a perfect square, added to another number meaningfully, and so on.
- Measurement
Also used as a measurement — Minutes and seconds.
A quantity expressed against a defined unit or standard (24 hours in a day, 60 seconds in a minute) — arithmetic is meaningful, but the specific value is a fixed convention of the measuring system, not a discovered mathematical property.
Why does 60 appear so often (minutes, seconds, degrees)?
- Ancient Babylonian mathematics used a base-60 (sexagesimal) numeral system, one of the most historically influential number bases ever used.
- 60 is highly divisible — it has more divisors (1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 10, 12, 15, 20, 30, 60) than any smaller positive integer, making it exceptionally convenient for splitting into equal fractions.
- That combination of mathematical convenience and a specific historical numeral system is why 60 was inherited into modern minutes, seconds, and (via 6 × 60) degrees in a circle.
Factors & digit properties
- Divisors (12)
- 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 10, 12, 15, 20, 30, 60
- Prime factorisation
- 2^2 × 3 × 5
- Digit sum
- 6
- Digital root
- 6
Representations
- Decimal
- 60
- Scientific notation
- 6.000 × 10^1
Roman numerals
L X
Binary
1 1 1 1 0 0
1 × 32 + 1 × 16 + 1 × 8 + 1 × 4 + 0 × 2 + 0 × 1 = 60
Octal
7 4
7 × 8 + 4 × 1 = 60
Hexadecimal
3 c
3 × 16 + c × 1 = 60
Read as powers of two: 32 + 16 + 8 + 4 = 60.
In historical numeral systems
Egyptian
6 hobbles
6 × 10 = 60. The signs are simply repeated and added; where they sit on the line is a matter of layout, not value.
Babylonian
1 vertical wedge (sixties place), empty units place
1 × 60 + 0 = 60. Places are separated by a space on the tablet, with the higher place written first. The second place is empty, and this is precisely the case the early system could not write unambiguously — the same wedges alone would also read as 1.
Greek (Ionic)
xi, marked as a numeral
xi + keraia
A single letter, xi, marked with a keraia to show it is a number rather than a word.
Hebrew numerals
samekh
samekh
Chinese numerals
liù shí
liù shí
六 before 十 multiplies it: 6 tens. The written form mirrors the arithmetic — "liù shí". The financial (anti-fraud) form is 陸拾.
Maya
3 dots (upper, twenties place) over shell (zero) (lower, units place)
3 × 20 + 0 = 60. Places stack vertically with the smallest at the bottom, so the upper group is worth twenty times the lower.
Systems that simply cannot reach this value are left out. Where a script needs a font most readers do not have, the reading is given instead of the glyphs — see number systems for each system in full.
Other mathematical patterns
- Abundant number
- Highly composite number
- Harshad (Niven) number
Related numbers & connections
15 is a factor of 60 (15 × 4 = 60).
View 15 →Brunei is enclosed by Malaysian territory on Borneo. It is one of a handful of states where the monarch holds absolute power.
View 673 →60 arcminutes make a degree, and 60 arcseconds make an arcminute.
Mathematically related
Nearby in a sequence
- is adjacent to673
why?
Strength 0.50, confidence "high".
Shares a distinctive class
- is associated withDegrees in a full turn
why?
Strength 0.50, confidence "high".
Numbers Around Us
- appears inRadio and communications
why?
Strength 0.50, confidence "high".
- appears inCulture and belief
why?
Strength 0.50, confidence "high".
- appears inFilm and video frame-rate standards
why?
Strength 0.50, confidence "high".
Other connections
- developed fromBabylonian sexagesimal (base-60) system
why?
Strength 0.50, confidence "high".
- is associated withMinutes and seconds
why?
Strength 0.50, confidence "high".
- is associated with133
why?
Strength 0.50, confidence "high".
- is associated with12
why?
Strength 0.50, confidence "high".
- is associated withTime unit conversions
why?
Strength 0.50, confidence "high".
History
Sixty was chosen by Babylonian mathematicians for its divisibility, and it still governs how time and angles are measured. Almost nothing else from that period survives in daily use unchanged.
DocumentedHistoryGeography: MesopotamiaPeriod: from around 2000 BCThe ancient Babylonians used a base-60 (sexagesimal) number system, likely because 60 has an unusually high number of divisors (1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 10, 12, 15, 20, 30, 60), making many fractions simple to express. Its legacy survives directly in modern minutes, seconds and degrees of angle.
DocumentedHistoryPeriod: c. 3rd millennium BCE
Science
Cobalt-60 emits high-energy gamma rays and is used for radiotherapy, industrial radiography and sterilisation of medical supplies. Its 5.27-year half-life requires periodic source replacement.
DocumentedScienceGeography: GlobalPeriod: 1930s–
Culture
France introduced decimal time during the Revolution and abandoned it within two years. Sixty minutes and sixty seconds survived because clocks, tables and habits were already built around them, not because the division is better.
DocumentedCultureGeography: Originating in Mesopotamia; attempted decimalisation in FrancePeriod: ancient–; 1793–1795A 60-year anniversary is named for diamond. British usage puts diamond at 60, following Queen Victoria's Diamond Jubilee in 1897 — which was itself a choice, since 60 had no prior name. Several wedding-anniversary lists put diamond at 75 instead, which is why the question has no single answer.
DocumentedCultureGeography: United Kingdom and Commonwealth, where royal usage fixed itIn the history of Chinese-speaking cultures, years have been recorded in a repeating sexagenary cycle. Attested in oracle bone inscriptions from the second millennium BCE. Ten heavenly stems against twelve earthly branches, paired so that only sixty of the possible one hundred and twenty combinations occur. A sixtieth birthday completes the cycle a person was born into, which is why it carries the weight it does. This is a scholarly account rather than the tradition's own framing.
HistoricalCultureCulture: Chinese-speaking cultures
Technology & computing
The mains frequency is 60 hertz (North America and parts of Asia and South America). Most of the world uses 50 hertz instead. Neither is better; the split is an artefact of which manufacturers electrified which countries, and it is why clocks driven from the mains ran fast or slow when equipment was moved between them.
DocumentedTechnology & computingGeography: North America and parts of Asia and South America
Everyday life
60 divides both the minute into seconds and the hour into minutes, and 60 nautical miles span one degree of latitude. These are inherited conventions rather than natural units — they descend from Babylonian sexagesimal counting, not from any physical property of time.
DocumentedEveryday life
Mathematics
60 is a highly composite number, with 12 divisors (1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 10, 12, 15, 20, 30, 60) — more than any smaller number. That unusual divisibility is the practical reason it was chosen as a counting base and still suits division into halves, thirds, quarters, fifths and sixths.
DocumentedMathematics
Common questions
Why are there 60 minutes in an hour and 60 seconds in a minute?
It comes from Babylonian base-60 arithmetic, inherited by Greek astronomers and never displaced. 60 divides evenly by 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 10, 12, 15, 20 and 30, which makes fractions of an hour unusually clean — the same reason a circle carries 360 degrees.
Is a diamond jubilee 60 years?
In British and Commonwealth usage, yes — fixed by Queen Victoria's Diamond Jubilee in 1897, which was itself a choice, since 60 had no prior name. Several wedding-anniversary lists put diamond at 75 instead, so a couple and a monarch can be celebrating diamond anniversaries fifteen years apart. 70 is platinum, a name settled in 2022 because no British monarch had reached it before.
Is 60 a prime number?
No, 60 is not prime.
What are the factors of 60?
The factors of 60 are 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 10, 12, 15, 20, 30, 60.
What is 60 in Roman numerals?
60 in Roman numerals is LX.
About this page's data
Mathematical facts:computed directly from the number's value — nothing to source or verify externally.
Contextual records: 9 reviewer-confirmed records, sourced and reviewed before publication.
Last reviewed: 15 July 2026