Q1.
Look at the representation of 60. What will be the representation for 3,600?
Answer
A single wedge Y again — this time standing in the 3600s slot, with two empty slots to its right.
| Number | 3600s | 60s | 1s | What is actually written |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | — | — | Y | Y |
| 60 | — | Y | (blank) | Y |
| 3600 | Y | (blank) | (blank) | Y |
All three look the same on the tablet. Only the context could tell a reader which was meant.
Why it happens: in a place value system the position carries the meaning — but a position that is empty carries no ink, and an empty position at the end of a numeral cannot even be seen. The later Mesopotamians invented a placeholder mark for a blank in the middle of a numeral, which is a remarkable idea and very close to our 0. But they did not use it at the end, so 1, 60 and 3600 stayed ambiguous. The Hindu system removed the ambiguity entirely by treating 0 as a digit like any other, which is why we can write 1, 60 and 3600 and never confuse them.
Check it yourself: the same page shows 12, 602 and 36002 all written as < YY, with only the spacing to tell them apart. In our system those are three plainly different numerals, because every empty position is filled by a 0.