A simple question..........

[Politically Incorrect]

The origin appears to lie with the Sumerians, over 4000 years ago.  When they counted things, they used their fingers, but they did it a bit differently than we do today.

Take a look at the fingers on your left hand.  Using your thumb, point to the first segment on your index finger between your palm and the rest of the finger.  You

[Hagar]

[quote]

Then even given this bit of info, why would a degree come to be 60 minutes ?

......but

[Hagar]

This adds to Fret's explanation - if you can understand it.

[quote]
The Origin of the circle's 360 degrees lives in the act of the Sumerian priests overimposing on area of 1/8 of the Geometric Point of the Decimal System's numbers from One to Nine. For newcomers : the Lost Scientific Geometric Point to Sumerians was a Square whose area was separated in 8 parts. One part was the area of 45 degrees, seen as the sum of 1+2+3+4+5+6+&+8+9 = 45

See the eye-view below:

One---1
Two---1 1
Three-1 1 1
Four--1 1 1 1
Five--1 1 1 1 1
Six---1 1 1 1 1 1
Seven-1 1 1 1 1 1 1
Eight-1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1
Nine--1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1

[Rifleman]

I found this of interest in one location I have been trundling through ...........

[quote] Clearly or unclearly, it appears that the way we measure time is illogical.

[Hagar]

I found this of interest in one location I have been trundling through ...........


..........its all starting to become clear as MUD to me now !

It makes sense to me too. Everyone is conditioned to think decimal these days although the Metric system is very recent. I believe it was introduced by Napoleon Bonaparte only 200 years ago. Before then, even the French used the Imperial system. The UK only converted to decimal currency in the early 1970s & until then there were 12 pennies to the shilling & 240 to the pound Sterling. Many products like eggs are still sold by the dozen. It seems logical now to count in tens but the ancients had no preconceived ideas. Did you try counting on the joints of your fingers with your thumb as Fret explained? It's actually very clever & allows you to count more than 10 without using your toes. I reckon that could come in very useful.

Another thing worth mentioning is that the Sumerians had worked out a way of writing this down. The much later Romans had no way of writing numbers & used letters instead. There is no way of writing 0 (zero) in Latin.

PS. The chap (I assume it's a male) that wrote the article in your quote is obviously one of those types I hate so much that want to change things just for the sake of it. This inevitably creates confusion where none previously existed. As I said before, we've been using the current system for hundreds of years with no problem at all. If it ain't broke, don't fix it.

[Woodlouse2002]

"While you sleep, your beard grows: this is time." - Joan Fuster

[Rifleman]

...........and just when I think I may be getting close to the answer of my original question, I come upon this open ended paragraph which takes me absolutely nowhere....!

The division of the day into 24 hours is possibly related to ancient people measuring the height of the sun in the sky by holding their hand outstretched in front of their faces and marking off the number of spans.  It turns out that there are 24 spans in a complete day.    There is conflicting information as to how 60 divided the hours and minutes.  The division by 60 dates from the Babylonians who attributed mystical significance to this number.  They used the sexsgisimal system of numbers, based on multiples of sixty.  But at this point the scent of origin becomes weak as their use of the number sixty seems to have nothing to do with astronomy or the movement of heavenly bodies.

[Hagar]

I think it's like a lot of ancient history & archeology. Plenty of theories but nobody really knows & never will.

I like the Sumerian theory best.

"While you sleep, your beard grows: this is time." - Joan Fuster

It's way past my bedtime so I'll have a shave in the morning.

[eno]

Everyone has missed the fundamental reason for 60 bpm (beats per minute).
The resting heart beat is 60bpm (approx)

[Politically Incorrect]

I have the answer that is easy for all to understand:

It is the way it is, because it is the way it was, so then it shall remain the way it will be.

I never liked the "metric" system we were forced this rediculious system back in school, funny that even the teachers had trouble with it.
I'm a woodworker by trade and to me everything is in feet and inches, 1/64 ths and 1/8ths. People have tried to tell me that it is so much easier using metric, I don't see that being so, from early on we measured a certain way and that stuck in my head, then half through my schooling years they force use to learn metric and that screwed everything.
Now in the U.S. we use a mix of both.
You buy a American made product, a car is a good example you need to buy two sets of tools Standard and Metric because no two bolts are measured in the same system. Your speedometer reads in both MPH and KPH, why? We don't measure our speed in KPH (although it is cool on a digital speedometer makes it look like you drive faster).
We buy soft drinks in both formats you can get a 12 oz can or a 1 liter bottle. But gasoline you can only buy by the gallon.

It is with this type of confusion no one can answer whether or not the "glass is half empty or half full"

Lets say the glass is 16oz it would be half empty at 8oz,
in metric it would read :
0.473176 Liters (full)  and 0.236588 Liters(half)

or you can still say that the glass is "half full" but either way you look at it more numbers than necessary to have to deal with.

When working in metric you are given a lot of numbers unnecessary to achive what you want
12inches = 30.48 centimeters =120 millimeters

or my way:
12 inches= foot (which by the way mine is, so I can estimate distance pretty accurately by counting steps, can't so that using metric )

Use what you want I'll stick to something that I can use to allow me to get my work done with less time trying to figure out a bunch of un-needed numbers and decimal places

[Hagar]

I have the answer that is easy for all to understand:It is the way it is, because it is the way it was, so then it shall remain the way it will be.

I never liked the "metric" system we were forced this rediculious system back in school, funny that even the teachers had trouble with it.

Couldn't agree more Fret. I always knew we had a lot in common.

Unfortunately there will always be "experts" who think they know best & insist on changing things for the sake of it. This doesn't make anything easier, it simply complicates matters & confuses everyone.

Try explaining to a school-leaver brought up on the Metric system how to work in feet & inches, not only that but tenths & eighths of inches. As we were working with US products this was a necessary part of my job & unfortunately some never did get the hang of it. This resulted in them being rejected & I employed an older person instead. I often wonder how many times this happens in other companies & industries.

The Metric system does have its advantages for some things, like computing, but I don't see the point of changing to it just for the sake of it.

[Politically Incorrect]

The Metric system does have its advantages for some things, like computing, but I don't see the point of changing to it just for the sake of it.

True, but I guess this is what we must deal with in this world filled with "New and Improved"

[Rifleman]

Oh no !........not the " New and Improved " statement....


How can something be improved if its new ?   ;D  ;D
How can something be new if it's improved ?  ???
If something is improved, then wasn't it already here ?....making it just changed, not new ?

This is one of my real pet peeves..........  :(

Back to the 60 second thing.....no matter what we all find on here, to decipher this dogging question, one constant remains ...............TEMPUS FUGIT !

Right now, to me, it feels like only yesterday it was Friday !

[denishc]

Right now, to me, it feels like only yesterday it was Friday !

 The one thing I do know about time is that it passes slower when I'm at work!!  And faster when I' having a good time!

[denishc]

........once again, I repeat, since we all naturally have 10 fingers, ten toes, etc.......?

 Strange as this may sound my Grandfather (my mother's father) had an extra digit on each hand!  Would that make his system of counting base 12?

 Hagar spoke of using "natural things" to measure by.  My "wing span" is just alittle over five feet.  Being an electrician, I often measure out lengths of wire from hand to hand. Its much quicker than using a tape measure and is surprisingly quite accurate.