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Why is a minute divided into 60 seconds, an hour into 60 minutes?

scientificamerican.com

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Re: Why is a minute divided into 60 seconds, an hour into 60 minutes?

#2

Post by nmc »

Interesting history lesson about the Egyptian's use of the duodecimal system.

I believe the last argument is understated: one big advantage of base 12 over base 10 is division by 3. This offers many ways of dividing a time interval into several sub-intervals of identical duration.

For base 60, this intensifies: as mentioned in the post, 60 is the smallest number divisible by 2, 3, 4, 5, and 6. This gives tremendous flexibility for dividing a time interval.

Re: Why is a minute divided into 60 seconds, an hour into 60 minutes?

#4

Post by maaarghk »

nmc wrote: post #2

Interesting history lesson about the Egyptian's use of the duodecimal system. I believe the last argument is understated: one big advantage of base 12 over base 10 is division by 3. This offers many ways of dividing a time interval into several sub-intervals of identical duration. For base 60, this intensifies: as mentioned in the post, 60 is the smallest number divisible by 2, 3, 4, 5, and 6. This gives tremendous f…

This is also a good argument for switching to base 12 for normal every-day counting.

One interesting thing I heard once - a journalist was discussing the merits of counting in base 12 with someone whose society already adopted this method. When the journalist asked how we would teach kids to count with their fingers, the answer was simple - use the divisions created by your knuckles!

It would mess with everyone but I think there's a pretty strong argument for base 12.

edit: okay, i finished reading and it kind of says that already. But it's still cool!

Re: Why is a minute divided into 60 seconds, an hour into 60 minutes?

#6

Post by te-x »

maaarghk wrote: post #4
nmc wrote: post #2

Interesting history lesson about the Egyptian's use of the duodecimal system. I believe the last argument is understated: one big advantage of base 12 over base 10 is division by 3. This offers many ways of dividing a time interval into several sub-intervals of identical duration. For base 60, this intensifies: as mentioned in the post, 60 is the smallest number divisible by 2, 3, 4, 5, and 6. This gives tremendous f…

This is also a good argument for switching to base 12 for normal every-day counting. One interesting thing I heard once - a journalist was discussing the merits of counting in base 12 with someone whose society already adopted this method. When the journalist asked how we would teach kids to count with their fingers, the answer was simple - use the divisions created by your knuckles! It would mess with everyone but I…

You're probabbly talking about numberphile's video : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U6xJfP7-HCc

Re: Why is a minute divided into 60 seconds, an hour into 60 minutes?

#7

Post by maaarghk »

te-x wrote: post #6
maaarghk wrote: post #4

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is also a good argument for switching to base 12 for normal every-day counting. One interesting thing I heard once - a journalist was discussing the merits of counting in base 12 with someone whose society already adopted this method. When the journalist asked how we would teach kids to count with their fingers, the answer was simple - use the divisions created by your knuckles! It would mess with everyone but I…

You're probabbly talking about numberphile's video : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U6xJfP7-HCc

I have seen a lot of numberphile's videos but not this one! Thanks for the link.

I'm pretty sure my flatmate told me the story and he watches numberphile too so you're almost certainly right either way :P

Re: Why is a minute divided into 60 seconds, an hour into 60 minutes?

#8

Post by dirktheman »

After the french revolution there was a short period (3 years) when the French had decimal time. It didn't catch on because that meant the workers had 10-day workweeks instead of 7.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/French_Republican_Calendar

As a result, decimal clocks from that era are very rare and highly sought after!

Re: Why is a minute divided into 60 seconds, an hour into 60 minutes?

#9

Post by phaemon »

nmc wrote: post #2

Interesting history lesson about the Egyptian's use of the duodecimal system. I believe the last argument is understated: one big advantage of base 12 over base 10 is division by 3. This offers many ways of dividing a time interval into several sub-intervals of identical duration. For base 60, this intensifies: as mentioned in the post, 60 is the smallest number divisible by 2, 3, 4, 5, and 6. This gives tremendous f…

> For base 60, this is exacerbated

Sorry to nitpick, but "exacerbate" is to make worse. It's like "ex-acerbate". It doesn't mean "even more so" in a good way. Just thought you'd like to know.

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