Positional notation
Positional notation or
place-value notation is a method of representing or encoding numbers. Positional notation is distinguished from other notations for its use of the same symbol for the different orders of magnitude. This greatly simplified arithmetic led to the quick spread of the notation across the world. With the use of a radix point, the notation can be extended to include fractions and the numeric expansions of real numbers. The Babylonian numeral system, base-60, was the first positional system developed, and is still used today to count time and angles. The Hindu–Arabic numeral system, base-10, is the most commonly used system in the world today for most calculations.