Measurement of Angles

Paper Summary:

In this article, the writer discusses the notion of the 24-hour period used in the day/night cycle. The writer explains that this cycle began in ancient Egypt, while the sixty divisions of degrees, minutes and seconds is derived from the number system based on sixty (sexagesimal) of the Mesopotamians. The writer examines this approach to dividing the day and night into like segments. Further, the writer looks at ancient peoples' observations about the motion of the sun and discusses how this ultimately results in the system that is used to measure angles today.

From the Paper:

"Given its ancient origins, the reason angles are measured in degrees, minutes and seconds today has likewise been forgotten by many modern observers. In fact, the basis for this method was developed almost five thousand years ago in Sumeria based on their use of sundials to track time. In her book, Time's Pendulum: The Quest to Capture Time -- from Sundials to Atomic Clocks, Jo Ellen Barnett reports that the convention of the 24-hour period used in the day/night cycle began in ancient Egypt, while the sixty divisions of degrees, minutes and seconds is derived from the number system based on sixty (sexagesimal) of the Mesopotamians; because the Mesopotamians had not yet invented fractional numbers, they preferred whole numbers which could be divided in several different ways, and the number 60 can be evenly divided by 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 10, 12, 15, 20, and 30."

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