Sexagesimal, also known as base 60, is a numeral system with sixty as its base. It originated with the ancient Sumerians in the 3rd millennium BC, was passed down to the ancient Babylonians, and is still used—in a modified form—for measuring time, angles, and geographic coordinates.
The number 60, a superior highly composite number, has twelve divisors, namely 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 10, 12, 15, 20, 30, and 60, of which 2, 3, and 5 are prime numbers. With so many factors, many fractions involving sexagesimal numbers are simplified. For example, one hour can be divided evenly into sections of 30 minutes, 20 minutes, 15 minutes, 12 minutes, 10 minutes, 6 minutes, 5 minutes, 4 minutes, 3 minutes, 2 minutes, and 1 minute. 60 is the smallest number that is divisible by every number from 1 to 6; that is, it is the lowest common multiple of 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, and 6.
Similarly, the practical unit of angular measure is the degree, of which there are 360 (six sixties) in a circle. There are 60 minutes of arc in a degree, and 60 arcseconds in a minute.
What's that in metric?
ReplyDeleteSimpler, but in French.
DeleteThat's racist.
ReplyDeleteThe Sumerians still live on an extraterrestrial world. They are the ones 'flying' the UFOs. The elites of the race departed before the flood.
ReplyDeleteSumerians had 30 fingers and 30 toes.
ReplyDeleteNever got that in school. Probably afraid of the reaction of juveniles to "Sexagesimal". Rightly so given the reaction in college when presented with electrical tube design and thermionic emissions.
ReplyDeleteknuckles, 12 knucklebones on your fingers x 5 digits on your other hand you can count to 60 easily as opposed to 10 if you just use fingers and thumbs
ReplyDeleteDid you notice that you're using DECIMAL notation to "count" to 60? "60" in sexagesimal notation should be "10". You need an additional 50 characters in sexagesimal; it's absurdly cumbersome. For a simpler example, see 'hexadecimal": 0-f. 10 in hex = 16 base 10. And now you know why nobody uses sexagesimal; while it's very attractive as a base, it's an absolute pain in the butt to use in meatspace. Same reason metric is a pain (though less so); humans like numbers and scales that work FOR HUMANS; 0 degrees is damn chilly, 100 degrees is pretty hot, instead of 0 degrees is sorta cold and 100 is fatal hot.
DeleteHexadecimal makes dealing with large numbers easier than in binary. One hex "digit" it equal to 4 bits or 1/2 of a byte, sometimes called a nybble.
DeleteI used to cover this when we were talking about different number bases. they always thought they had it bad when we got to hexadecimal.
ReplyDeleteCould it be that prior to the Great Flood of Noah the earth had 360 days a year? The earth lost so much mass and also became more compact because of melting that the rotation sped up. Consider the Hydroplate Theory:
ReplyDeletehttps://www.creationscience.com/onlinebook/IntheBeginningTOC.html
Stefan v.
Imperial uses primes 2, 3, and 5. metric only uses 2 and 5. imperial has better resolution and was the basis of the rise of the industrial age. metric is the measurement system of the collapse. my opinion as a physicist. can't lose a 10mm socket in imperial. can't divide by 3 in metric. (1/3 metre vs 1/3 yard)
ReplyDeleteLet the flaming begin :)
Oh, and you left out; 60 jiffy’s in a second
ReplyDelete