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Contradiction in the article
The history section is using circular logic. It claims that 360 was chosen because of the number of days in a year, and then goes on to claim that there were 360 days in a year because there were 360 degrees in a circle. 63.228.4.70 22:25, 11 April 2006 (UTC)
Whooo
Who did come up with the invention? As well as who, what time was the system invented/adopted.
Scientific Calculators and decimal degree
Do calculators seriously support this? i've never seen it. It would be very useful to place an approximate year on that peice of information, such as "Whilst this idea did not gain much momentum, most scientific calculators made after 1934 still support it. (Note: I made up that year)
Degrees in SI system
I'm pretty sure that Degrees don't exist in the SI system... not even as a derived unit. I'll remove references to that unless someone protests. Fresheneesz 09:01, 1 December 2005 (UTC)
whyyy
why is each degree divided into 60 parts and each minute into sixty seconds???
i would also like to know why they chose the terms "minutes" and "seconds" - the history section on this page or the sexigesimal page does not address this...
Radians and Gradians
Surely this is a bit pointless, having two subsections on the two major alternative units? I will edit it into one section with a slight introduction to each and then following through by suggesting the user click the links, because surely they have their own pages? Help plz 15:59, 25 June 2006 (UTC)
Does the Babylonian material belong here?
Hi, I edited the Babyloninan history additions, which are cool. I can't help but wonder, though, whether some of that belongs under Pi instead of here. It's probably more relevant to just say that the sixty-fold divisions of the degree relate to the Babylonian numeral system, and that the Babylonians were the pioneers in careful astronomical measurements; everyone later built on or generalized their work.
The tablet picture does not correspond to what's in the text. Can we find a picture of the real tablet or at least a reference number?
As an aside, the Egyptians certainly knew that the year had >360 days; they even had a cute myth about the discrepancy. WillowW 10:42, 27 June 2006 (UTC)
Astronomical explanation
I revised the wording somewhat. If this is too OR-ish then some suitable source should be found. Crum375 20:44, 21 September 2006 (UTC)
Removing the Pi approximation
I agree with the above discussion that the entire Pi related section does not belong in the history of the degree, or to the degree in general. I plan to remove it wholesale unless someone objects and can explain why it should remain here. Crum375 21:22, 21 September 2006 (UTC)
There is also a serious lack of reliable sources for virtually everything in this article and apparently over-abundance of original research till proven otherwise. That really needs to be fixed ASAP. Crum375 21:34, 21 September 2006 (UTC)
I found this reference in an online forum from 1995, which seems to be the source (copyright issues?) for the PI-derivation explanation for the degree that was included in the article. But at this point, I just don't see it more than speculation and I don't see a good quality source, and to me it's really not very convincing. I think the astronomical derivation, from the amount the stars seem to advance in the sky every night in their annual trek around the celestial pole (about 1 degree per evening, with an error of less than 1.4%), and the fact that some old calendars actually counted the year as 360 days is very convincing and logical. We do need better sources, though. And I would accept the PI-derivation method (copyright addressed) if someone could explain better how it derives the degree (the 1995 message doesn't do for me) and provide a better source. Crum375 22:58, 22 September 2006 (UTC)
360 derives from the sexagesimal base
My opinion is that the angle of the Equilateral Triangle tool was a reference angle because however you handle the tool you get the same angle so it makes it a handy tool.
So the reference angle was accorded a number of degrees of 60 decimal = 10 sexagesimal , as it is today, equal to the base of the Sexagesimal numeration system in use by the ancient Mesopotamian Civilisations and that still today pattern the minute and second arc divisions.
The advantatge of this base is the large number of divisors, facilitating calculations as stated in the wikipedia article Sexagesimal.
How many times an equilateral triangle angle fits in a circle ? Exactly six (since the sum of the triangle angles totals half a circle), which multiplied by the reference angle gives you 360 ! Griba2010 19:34, 4 January 2007 (UTC)
My personal guess is that the angle of the equilateral triangle was the real standard. It is the easiest angle to reproduce with fidelity, so a good standard.
Any angle was expressed in terms of it following the sexagesimal system. Later in time, the first sexagesimal part became the main standard as many angles were less than the reference one, and a discrete number is always better to express, when talking, than a fractional one. Moreover, a written quantity less than 1 was easily read as integer since there was no sign for the preceding 0 and the meaning had to be taken from the text context. Later on, with finer tools, came the minutes and seconds accuracy. Griba2010 23:18, 6 January 2007 (UTC)
Definition
What is the ancient and modern definitions of the degree? I have seen the following: 1/60 of an angle from an equiangular triangle. 1/90 of a right angle. 1/180 of a straight angle. 1/360 of a circle. 1/360 of a complete rotation. 180/π radians. 360/2π radians.
Although they are all equal, only one can be the definition at a time in order to prove the other are equivalent. Zginder 21:26, 23 April 2007 (UTC)
Proposed WikiProject
Right now the content related to the various articles relating to measurement seems to be rather indifferently handled. This is not good, because at least 45 or so are of a great deal of importance to Wikipedia, and are even regarded as Vital articles. On that basis, I am proposing a new project at Wikipedia:WikiProject Council/Proposals#Measurement to work with these articles, and the others that relate to the concepts of measurement. Any and all input in the proposed project, including indications of willingness to contribute to its work, would be greatly appreciated. Thank you for your attention. John Carter 21:01, 2 May 2007 (UTC)
Circle vs Revolution
I think I'm going to be alone on this one, but I've always had a problem with people stating that there are 360 degrees in a circle.
Here's why:
People say "there are 180 degrees in a triangle". What they mean is the sum of the internal angles of a triangle is 180 degrees. Similarly, there are 360 degrees in a rectangle.
In general, there are 180 * (number of sides - 2) degrees in a polygon.
Now here is where it starts getting debatable. I see a circle as a polygon of infinite number of sides.
Hence, as the number of sides tends to infinity, the number of degrees also tends to infinity.
So there are not 360 degrees in a circle, otherwise it would look like a square :-P
It's more correct to say: "There are 360 degrees in a revolution .", which obviously doesn't relate to the sum of the internal angles.
I heard the question "How many degrees are there in a circle?" on The Weakest Link and I was upset that they allow questions which have, at the very least, debatable answers. What do you think?
Other Units
there seem to be other units as well.
I recently examined a 1904 pattern uglomer (lining plane) sight in the St Petersberg Museum of Artillery, Engineers and Signals. This circular sight was divided into 600 dividions and there was no secondary or micrometeer sclae to divide these units. Obviously this is a source of the Russian 6000 mils.
Next in Sweden I again examined sights, on a 1930s vintage howitzer the azumuth scale used 6300 mils, however, the elevation scale used a degrees symbol and each 'degree' had four divisions, the three 'dividers being marked '12', '24' and '36', impying a degree divided into 48 subunits.
The 6400 mil circle seems to have been a French invention about 100 years ago. Nfe 01:50, 23 October 2007 (UTC)
Anatolia is wrong. It should say Ionia ]
ANGLES AND THEIR MEASURES
A definition of an angle would be that an angle is the union of two rays that have the same endpoint. The sides of the angles are the two rays, while the vertex is their common endpoi
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