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Re: LUNATIC again))

From:Eric Christopherson <eric@...>
Date:Friday, November 13, 1998, 6:16
David Bush wrote:
> > I once devised a system for one of my concultures that had the "metric" > system applied to geometry. I had a 100 degrees in a circle. A straight > line would be 50 degrees. That seems like a pretty simple. Didn't the > Babylonians develop the 360 degree model that we use today? I believe > their culture was in base 12.
Yes, the Babylonians are credited with it. I don't remember the details, but I know they used the number 60 a lot, maybe the number system was based on 12 and the next multiple they used was 60. So they used 360 degrees. The number 360 is often linked to the number of days in the year (perhaps they used twelve 30-day months and an intercalary 5-day month?); a degree would be approximately the angle the Earth revolves around the Sun in a day. The Maya also used 13 and 60 a lot in their system for some reason.