Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!rpi!usc!jarthur!uunet!aurs01!gingell
From: gingell@aurs01.UUCP (Mike Gingell)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.handhelds
Subject: Re: This is kinda irregular...
Keywords: 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 10, 12, 15, 20, 30
Message-ID: <59829@aurs01.UUCP>
Date: 14 May 91 13:18:04 GMT
References: <1991May12.065743.15904@rick.cs.ubc.ca>
Sender: news@aurs01.UUCP
Distribution: na
Organization: Alcatel Network Systems, Raleigh NC
Lines: 14

b3300876@rick.cs.ubc.ca (george chow) writes:

> How did it came about that we have 60 seconds in a minute and 60
> minutes in an hour? What about the situation with degrees (i.e., 60
> minutes in a, degree,60 seconds in a minute.) I seem to recall
> vaguely that it may had to do with the Babylonians.
 
Because 60 is subdivisible by so many exact factors. Which is what makes
100 such a lousy arithmetic base. It would have been much better for
mathematics if man had been born with 12 fingers.

Mike Gingell, Alcatel, Raleigh, NC USA  (919) 850-6444
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