Answer to Question #103433 in Trigonometry for tamara

Question

Longitude and latitude are measured in degrees, minutes, and seconds. This is quite similar to the measurement of time. Why is this so?

Answer 1

Thousands of years ago, people noticed that much in nature repeats itself: the sun rises in the east and sets in the west, summer replaces winter and vice versa. It was then that the first units of time arose - day, month, year. Using the simplest astronomical instruments, it was found that in a year about 360 days, and in about 30 days, the silhouette of the moon goes through a cycle from one full moon to the next. Therefore, the Chaldean sages took the six-decimal number system as a basis: the day was divided into 12 night and 12 day hours, the circumference was 360 degrees. Each hour and each degree was divided into 60 minutes, and each minute into 60 seconds.