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<br>L O W L A N D S - L - 06 March 2007 - Volume 01<br><br>=========================================================================<br><br>From: <span id="_user_heatherrendall@tiscali.co.uk" style="color: rgb(0, 104, 28);">
"<a href="mailto:heatherrendall@tiscali.co.uk">heatherrendall@tiscali.co.uk</a>"</span><span style="font-weight: normal;" class="lg"> <<a href="mailto:heatherrendall@tiscali.co.uk">heatherrendall@tiscali.co.uk
</a>></span><br>Subject: LL-L "Idiomatica" 2007.03.04 (07) [E]<br><br><span style="font-family: arial,sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: arial,sans-serif;">
<div dir="ltr"><font size="2">Peter Snepvangers wrote: </font></div></span> </span>
<div dir="ltr" style="font-family: arial,sans-serif;"><font size="2"> Astronomically
they already divided the circle into 360 degrees, knew all about 60
minutes in an hour (from Horus, the Egyptian sun - day - God). </font></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="font-family: arial,sans-serif;"> </div>
<div dir="ltr" style="font-family: arial,sans-serif;"> </div>
<div dir="ltr" style="font-family: arial,sans-serif;"><font size="2">Didn't they get this from the Persians / Zoastrians?</font></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="font-family: arial,sans-serif;"> </div>
<div dir="ltr" style="font-family: arial,sans-serif;"><font size="2">copied from <a href="http://mathforum.org/dr.math" target="_blank" onclick="return top.js.OpenExtLink(window,event,this)">http://mathforum.org/dr.math</a>
</font></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="font-family: arial,sans-serif;"> </div>
<div dir="ltr" style="font-family: arial,sans-serif;">According to Otto Neugebauer (in his _The Exact Sciences in <br>Antiquity_), who is one of the world's leading experts in ancient <br>mathematics and astronomy, "A second Egyptian contribution to
<br>astronomy is the division of the day into 24 hours, though these hours <br>were originally not of even length but were dependent upon the <br>seasons." A little further on he says, "Thus our present division of
<br>the day into 24 hours of 60 minutes each is the result of a <br>Hellenistic (Greek) modification of an Egyptian practice combined with <br>Babylonian numerical procedures."<br><br>As you may know, the Babylonians/Mesopotamians used base 60 numbers in
<br>their business, astronomy, and mathematics (they used base 10 numbers <br>as well). Probably connected to this was the division of the <br>circumference of a circle into 360 parts by Babylonian astronomers. <br>Geometric circles and the apparent movement of stars on the celestial
<br>sphere go naturally together and time is a common feature of <br>astronomy. I think, then, that it was natural to use the division of a <br>circle on a clock face.<br><br>However, Otto Neugebauer (again in his _The Exact Sciences in
<br>Antiquity_) also says that, "The division of the circumference of the <br>circle into 360 parts originated in Babylonian astronomy of the last <br>centuries BC. The [base 60] number system as such is many centuries
<br>older and has nothing to do with astronomical concepts."</div>
<div dir="ltr" style="font-family: arial,sans-serif;"> </div>
<div dir="ltr" style="font-family: arial,sans-serif;"> </div>
<div dir="ltr" style="font-family: arial,sans-serif;">Heather</div><br>
•
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