h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

For some time now I have been wondering why there are 360 degrees in a circle. The number has certainly come to us from a long way back. The Mayans Long Count word for a year was a 'Tun', which consisted of 360 days. (See Joanna's entry 'The Mayan Calender System')

Could this mean that they were remebering a time when a year was 360 day long? The Earth's orbit is slowing down, but not by five and quarter days in 3000 years.

So when? How? What? Why?????

Sorry to burden you, but this is really bugging me.

Good question. Also, why are angles measured the same way in Metric and in English?

It was to do with the Babylonian Clock/Calendar I think. Thats where we get seconds( 60secs in a deg ).

Angles can also be measured in mils. 6400 mils in a circle I think. Its what the military services use.

u also have radians. there are 2pi radians in a circle (pi radians = 180 degrees)

That is right. And incidently, I have had many experiences with omylice as I am a scientist. Foolishly I forgot rads.

i dont blame u. rads r annoyin (tho no dount their use will b unveiled to us eventually).
i hope ur experiences wiv omylice we all happy 1s? omylice dont really mean 2 cause trouble (honest!)

No they've all been good.

Thanks for the contributions guys, but what I suppose I'm trying to ascertain is whether or not the number of degrees in a circle has anything to do with a past number of days in a year.

The Mayan Haab Calender has 5 phantom days (thanks again Joanna) added on to the Long Count 360 day year. This seems to be an adjustment because 'time' had changed since the invention of the Long Count. Now these Mayans weren't thick. They knew how many days it took for the Earth to go round the Sun.

Also the Sumarians were using the 12 base counting system long before the Babylonians. It's because of them that the British still used £.s.d up until 1971.

Maybe I'm just barking Mad!!!

If the last part is true, then you've come to the right place.

The earliest references to circles and maths that I can find are babylonian, who used base 60 for numbers because it factorises so well. and 360 = 60 times 60

That's what I thought. And it is also good to divide the earth into nau miles. 60> 1^ has an angle of one degree.

Also many calendars use a luna system. And religion gets in the way an awful lot of ancient science.

I should know this, but i CAN'T REMEMBER, damm that caps lock key.
You are all talking around the point and getting further and further away from the answer.
It's a lot simpler, give me time to think about it.
I liked the "I'm a Scientist" bit.
You guys/beings are a scream....
bye....

It's definitely something to do with seconds/ clock faces....*thinks aloud* ...12 numbers on a clock face...xhalf an hour, or 30, =360....
No, sorry, I have no idea.

the clock uses 60's and 12 for the same reasons, it is easy to factorise.

Factorise? (sorry, there's a vague ghostly memory of factors somewhere but it refuses to surface..)

I'm not gonna touch that with a 20 foot pole...

Dunna blame you, mate, I think someone's swearing at me...

Or maybe there are 360 degrees in a circle just because there are.

Time for my blue pill, I think?