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Why are there 60 Minutes in an Hour?

We are all familiar with dividing our days into 24 hours and our hours into 60 minutes. But why do we use these particular units for measuring time?

To understand the units of time we need to investigate the number systems of ancient civilizations. How did the Sumerians count to 12 on one hand and to 60 on two? What advances did the Babylonians make and how did they use this number system for measurement? And what refinements did the Egyptians make to time measurement to give us the system we still use today?

via scienceray.com

Enchanting account of the origin of the Sexagesimal system. Never really understood how it was developed. So simple, yet so fascinating.

Click through for the detailed explanation.

Posted via web from Pain on the Posterior

Comments

  1. Praveen6/28/2009 11:01:00 AM

    man!!!how many posts in an hour???
    AMazing comeback :D

    ReplyDelete

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