I thought the different explanations for why babylonians used based 60 to be super interesting. The argument for the relationship between the cyclic nature of day and night represents by a circle, and the development of longitudes and latitudes with the use of 360 degrees to move around the earth was novel to me. I thought the use of the 12 starts which signify total darkness during the equinox form a natural basis for the development of the hour. In which case we have 24 hours in the day. Where I wish the article expanded more, was the integration of the minute and the hour, because this necessarily forces the timespan of a second to consist of 3600 repetitions in an hour.
The use of 360 degrees, and 60 seconds in an hour has certainly played a huge role in my development and understanding of geometry. Equilateral triangles, trigonometric identities, time keeping, and even the initial development of modular arithmetic was all made easier by the fact that 60 has many factors. Rational numbers, terminating decimals and easy-to-remember roots played a key role in my understanding of geometry. Moreover, there always seemed to be a natural progression from 360 degrees in as circle to 365 days a year - a fact which provides a sense of continuity from the second up to the year.
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| 3 of the 18 stars represent dusk, 3 for dawn, leaving 12 for night |
I hadn’t thought about the closeness of 360 degrees in a circle and 365 days in a year in quite this way. They are close enough to create that sense of continuity between circular geometry and the yearly cycle that you describe.
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