Question

odd question:


Why are there 360 degrees in a circle? ... I mean... why 360 specifically? why not 100? or 400? is there a mathy reason why they picked this number? (like something to do with pi or something)?

Answer 1

Other than the fact that 360 has so many divisors, there is no mathematical reason for 360. You may want to review history of math though...

Answer 2

good question - but I dont think its anything to do with pi

Answer 3

k, so it's not a special ration or golden ratio or anything like that? just: we picked 360... and we've always done it this way...?

Answer 4

360 is a highly composite number, thats good enough for greeks those days i guess

Answer 5

ok, cheers all, was just ... pondering ;)

Answer 6

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Highly_composite_number

Answer 7

Very interesting question. I find it quite intriguing now and I actually think I might do some research to find out...

Answer 8

That's a convention, like why \(0!=1\) why \(x^0=1\) and ...

Answer 9

@mukushla Those conventions are there for a reason though. If they're not introduced, then consistency will be broken.

Answer 10

Allow me to introduce a relatively unknown unit of angles which, unlike degrees, makes sense.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Radian

Answer 11

I heard that long time ago, Mathematicians wanted to know how to link the straight measurement with the curve one. They know that the unit of straight line is 1; how about the unit of the curve? They drew out a circle with radius 1 and straight it out, the length of the curve is exactly 2pi. The experiment was repeated with the other radius and the constant popped out was pi.
hihihi.... hope it helps

Answer 12

@Jack1 you might be interested in pondering over

why 1 feet = 12 inch

Answer 13

(jk)

Answer 14

lol, imperial "feet" measurement is based on some king's foot size, yeah?

Answer 15

forreal ?

Answer 16

I learned in 3rd grade it was based on some king's foot size

Answer 17

Its interesting about the grad as a unit of angles - it used to be included on the older calculators but not on the newer ones.

Answer 18

I think it originated in France.

Answer 19

400 is obviously less composite than 360

Answer 20

that's interesting about grads tho @welshfella
1 grad = pi/200

Answer 21

must look for a website

Answer 22

just for 1x question: srsly awesome turnout everyone, props hey ;)

Answer 23

i love this picture that tells why radians are beautiful

Answer 24

awesome visual @ganeshie8
ummm... @welshfella sorry man, ur link goes nowhere?

Answer 25

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gradian

try that one

Answer 26

Gradian makes a little more sense since it defines a right angle as 100 gradians.

Answer 27

ok, haven't found any solid leads, but found a few articles saying its because in like 3000BC, the summarians or mesepetomians had a circular calendar for the year, based on 12 months of 30 days
12x 30 = 360 = 1 year (ish)
not sure how accurate or historic it is... but there u go
http://usatoday30.usatoday.com/news/science/wonderquest/2002-06-21-circle.htm

Answer 28

@ParthKohli sure.