Why a circle has 360⁰

Aug 10, 2025 9:00 AM

DOcelot1

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583088

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informative

Blame the Babylonians we inherited their sexagesimal (base-60) system they used in math and astronomy it's the same reason why hours are 60 minutes.

4 days ago | Likes 7 Dislikes 3

what are the chances of some sauce for this, both because i like it and hope there is more, and i would like to have more pieces of Pi from the person who made this

3 days ago | Likes 1 Dislikes 0

WE DO measure angle in metric as well... People don't use it often, but radians are the metric measure of angle.

4 days ago | Likes 1 Dislikes 0

4 days ago | Likes 6 Dislikes 1

A circle doesn't have 360, it has what is known as an angular displacement, the full rotation around the center point of the circle. That's why we have pi to calculate the area of a circle, not 360.

4 days ago | Likes 6 Dislikes 3

It annoys me that the line in the circle is moving anti clockwise

4 days ago | Likes 4 Dislikes 3

it annoys me you dont use counter-clockwise

4 days ago | Likes 8 Dislikes 0

Love this. we need more of this and less "gestures vaguely at the world"

4 days ago | Likes 1 Dislikes 0

There is a 400 degree system, the gon. Used mainly in geodesy.

4 days ago | Likes 6 Dislikes 0

Then what is an X gon and why does it give it to ya?

4 days ago | Likes 3 Dislikes 0

parsing error

3 days ago | Likes 1 Dislikes 0

As expected, the comment section's a mess of people arguing which base is superior. Let's amp it up, Pluto was never a planet.

4 days ago | Likes 2 Dislikes 0

No scope 100 sounds wrong.

4 days ago | Likes 1 Dislikes 0

Because the Sumerians of 6000 years ago counted in base 60.

4 days ago | Likes 2 Dislikes 0

1 degree seems to be 1% deviation from a course. eg. You're shooting at a target 100m away, if you're off by 1 degree you'll be off by 1m. At least on scales small enough to notice in my maths exercise book when I was 13. NOTE: I said SEEMS TO BE, as in I am nowhere near an expert on this, it's just something I noticed while drawing triangles.

4 days ago | Likes 3 Dislikes 2

13-year-old you discovered the small-angle approximation! https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Small-angle_approximation

3 days ago | Likes 2 Dislikes 0

so, the Babylonians were the first documented case of OCD?

4 days ago | Likes 3 Dislikes 2

Many ancient peoples used duodecimal system for counting. You count to ten with your fingers as normal nowadays, but then you get the 2 extra with the thumbs either along the other fingers, or sticking to the sides. For some reason, this got stuck in time measurement. All common units are divisible by 12. Otherwise, using an actual 28-day lunar month would give 13 months and less left over than the 12 month year.

4 days ago | Likes 3 Dislikes 0

Nah. Using your thumb, you count the segments of your other 4 fingers. Bottom, middle, and tip of your finger. You get 60 by, when you've counted all the segments of your fingers on one hand, you put a finger down on the opposing hand and start the counting cycle again. 5 x 12 = 60.

3 days ago | Likes 1 Dislikes 0

A lunar month is not 28 days. A sidereal lunar month is 27.3 days, and a synodic lunar month is 29.5 days.

3 days ago | Likes 2 Dislikes 0

Huh. So it would seem. Live and learn. Thanks!

3 days ago | Likes 1 Dislikes 0

And the fact that the Sun moves through the star dome approximately 1/360 of a circle per day has nothing to do with it? (in other words, "360 is close enough to 365 and is a nice round number")

4 days ago | Likes 3 Dislikes 1

666 its demonic number. 6 60s in 360 and six appeared 3 times explaning it. The earth revolves around the sun not 360 days but 365.25 days. Its deceiving wat of satan to control humanity.

4 days ago | Likes 1 Dislikes 0

this is the logic of backronyms, just applied to mythology to help control people...

4 days ago | Likes 1 Dislikes 0

So, it's the Babylonians fault?

4 days ago | Likes 9 Dislikes 0

Inventing "society" was a mistake, so yes. I discount IRC because they didn't write.

4 days ago | Likes 1 Dislikes 0

yes

4 days ago | Likes 2 Dislikes 0

Uš!

4 days ago | Likes 2 Dislikes 0

4 days ago | Likes 1 Dislikes 0

I was trained as a surveying technician and we used gradians (aka gon) instead of degrees. They're somewhat simpler since 100 gon equal a right angle. So there are 400 units in a full circle instead of 360.

4 days ago | Likes 41 Dislikes 3

TIL those were actually used somewhere.

4 days ago | Likes 2 Dislikes 0

Although less simple for e.g. an equilateral triangle. 360 is often convenient because among other things it's divisible by so many numbers without having to deal with fractions.

4 days ago | Likes 22 Dislikes 1

True.

4 days ago | Likes 4 Dislikes 0

gon but not forgotten

4 days ago | Likes 6 Dislikes 0

When i was in tradeschool, all the surveying machines were with 400 units. Few german ones had 360. But because in Finland, and in the 1980's most of the equipment was Soviet made and they used only 400.

4 days ago | Likes 3 Dislikes 0

Is that similar to Feet (US), where we don’t use the metric system but instead divided a foot into 10ths? It’s super fun! Probably causes millions a year in re-work/delays due to conversion errors.

In army artillery we used “mils”, mili-radians. 1m at 1000 meters, you get used to it. There should be 6290-ish in a circle, but the military rounds it to 6400. Maybe they converted to ft/yards? I never knew why

4 days ago | Likes 3 Dislikes 0

The only issues I've seen with rework were related to carpenters needing dimensions converted to eighths of an inch because they couldn't just buy a new tape measure.

4 days ago | Likes 2 Dislikes 0

Exactly! I hate converting for them, but then again they screw up imperial measurements every time they have to add or subtract something like 3’ 4-9/16” from 6’ 7-1/4”. Just writing that makes me cringe, I wish we’d go metric already and get over it

4 days ago | Likes 1 Dislikes 0

Never heard the term before. Thanks. It now goes into the big bag of funny math things I'll never be able to forget

4 days ago | Likes 8 Dislikes 0

I ALMOST wish they would divide up the Earth into 400 lines of longitude instead of 360, because that would mean the distance between two lines of longitude at the equator would be pretty darn close to 100 kilometers. My brain just thinks that'd be neater.

4 days ago | Likes 6 Dislikes 1

I'll give that idea an 11.111/11.111 score.

4 days ago | Likes 3 Dislikes 0

I know of them exclusively because scientific calculators have this DRG key to switch between DEG/RAD/GRA

4 days ago | Likes 3 Dislikes 0

Each has its purpose, I assure you. ;-)

4 days ago | Likes 2 Dislikes 0

DEG for everyday use, RAD for scientific / mathematical stuff, GRA for whatever it was you said you were doing :)

4 days ago | Likes 3 Dislikes 0

Mine never had that. But it was a while ago. TI-83 I think

4 days ago | Likes 2 Dislikes 0

Huh, so it didn't. https://education.ti.com/en/customer-support/knowledge-base/ti-83-84-plus-family/product-usage/34657
But I was referring to scientific calculators rather than graphing/programmable ones, since those will typically just have a button to switch units, like this one (2nd key of top row):

4 days ago | Likes 3 Dislikes 0

"Gradians" sounds confusingly similar to "radians", though.

4 days ago | Likes 3 Dislikes 0

We never used that word. It was always just 'gon' with the 'o' plonounced like in 'lonely', not like in 'gone'.

4 days ago | Likes 2 Dislikes 0

Yes, seen in mostly French/German/European navigation

2 days ago | Likes 2 Dislikes 0

My pizza oven has 400 degrees. You put circles in it.

4 days ago | Likes 192 Dislikes 2

Pi has entered the chat.

4 days ago | Likes 67 Dislikes 3

tau*

4 days ago | Likes 15 Dislikes 2

*softly* don't

4 days ago | Likes 3 Dislikes 0

Oh but I will. Would you like a slice of apple tau?

4 days ago | Likes 1 Dislikes 0

Oh, yes, I will. Along with giving electrons positive charge.

4 days ago | Likes 2 Dislikes 0

I feel like we derived pi from base 360 not pi gave 360. Just like I feel like we use base 10 because that's how many fingers we have. Im sure with enough research i could find the answers but I dont wanna ruin the little fun image in my head so ill keep the myth instead of the fact.

4 days ago | Likes 6 Dislikes 4

Na, pi was not derived from 360. It’s a geometrical constant that defines the ratio between the circumference and the diameter. The number of angle divisions is immaterial.

4 days ago | Likes 18 Dislikes 1

We use base 60 for seconds and minutes, also we use 12 hours per AM/PM. 12 is part of base 60. The numbers 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 10, 12, 15, 20 and 30 can all divide 60 cleanly, easy fractions. 10 is inferior as we can divide it by only 1, 2 and 5 cleanly.
Computers use different base numbers all the time such as base 2 (binary) and base 16 (hexadecimal). Theres lots of different ways we count.

4 days ago | Likes 4 Dislikes 0

A unit of angular measurement convenient for some calculations is the radian. From Wikipedia: One radian is defined as the angle at the center of a circle in a plane that is subtended by an arc whose length equals the radius of the circle. Or 2*Pi radians = 360 deg And it has been a very loong time since I needed to know that.

4 days ago | Likes 7 Dislikes 0

The radian is used an awful lot in math and physics. Almost exclusively, even. In engineering too, but there the degree is used often too.

4 days ago | Likes 6 Dislikes 0

There are also practical considerations. You cannot evenly divide 100 by 3, 6, 7, 8 or 9. 360 is the lowest common multiple of 5, 8 and 9 and can be evenly divided by any number from 1-10 except for 7. (To divide by 7, you'd need to use 2520 for a full rotation) If you didn't mind being unable to evenly divide by 9 you could simplify a full rotation to 120, but it's still 3 digits, and basically inferior to the preexisting 360 framework.

4 days ago | Likes 51 Dislikes 1

I pretty strongly believe that base 10 is incredibly stupid and humanity would be better off with base 12 as we could then easily divide by thirds & fourths

Base 10 is good for 3-5 year olds learning to count, but that is a dumb reason to use it for everything we need numbers for

4 days ago | Likes 15 Dislikes 1

it's because we have 10 fingers

4 days ago | Likes 8 Dislikes 1

Yep and it’s a dumb reason to have our number system based off the number of fingers we have

Imagine if it was normal to have 5 fingers on one hand and 6 on the other, and then we used a base 11 number system that can’t be divided evenly at all

That is even more dumb, right?

And even if it was “well it’d be hard to teach kids to count” well that’s just ignorant as it isn’t hard to teach kids to count to 12 by having their thumb touch the 3 sections on the 4 other fingers to count to 12

3 days ago | Likes 2 Dislikes 0

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4 days ago (deleted Aug 10, 2025 8:34 PM) | Likes 0 Dislikes 0

Sure, except for all the harm that's happened from only having two systems in parallel. Like the Tokyo Disneyland Derailment, the Air Canada Flight 143, the Mars Climate Orbiter, the Korean Air MD-11 crash, etc.

4 days ago | Likes 2 Dislikes 0

Why 12 months?
They could have opted for 10 months, alternately 36 and 37 days. That yields 365.
.
Why do we have a seven day week? That doesn't fit nicely into any of the calendar options.

4 days ago | Likes 5 Dislikes 3

The God of Abraham rested on the seventh day, as do his followers.

4 days ago | Likes 2 Dislikes 1

moon

4 days ago | Likes 9 Dislikes 0

12 months because early calendars were lunar, "one moon" was a common measure of time, and a year has roughly 12 "moons".

As for why 7 days, I have absolutely no idea man. I've always wondered the same. Must be some astrology shit. The Bible mentions it but the tradition probably came from earlier, God knows why. Or maybe God doesn't know either, he just got the whole thing done in one week "because that's how it's always been done".

4 days ago | Likes 7 Dislikes 0

7 days ~= 1 moon phase: New, first quarter, full, third quarter, ...

4 days ago | Likes 4 Dislikes 0

9 hours ago | Likes 1 Dislikes 0

360° isn't arbitrary; 360 is a superior highly composite number. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Superior_highly_composite_number

4 days ago | Likes 236 Dislikes 4

Im so happy this is top comment. Thanks.

4 days ago | Likes 2 Dislikes 1

As an electrician, we also use it quite a bit in electrical theory. When you start getting into sine wave measurements it’s all trigonometry.

4 days ago | Likes 3 Dislikes 0

The babylonians did it long ago and it just sorta stuck because number feel good when easy to count.

4 days ago | Likes 1 Dislikes 0

One of the best throw away jokes of the entire series "I'll be six!". https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YfZuFDePqVI

4 days ago | Likes 4 Dislikes 0

No, that's not it as it's the same reason minutes and hours are in units of 60 . Why? The Babylonians' use of a sexagesimal (base-60) number system and we still use their notations thousands of years later.

4 days ago | Likes 16 Dislikes 10

...because they're highly composite numbers. This is like arguing that the wheels for modern cars are round because early car wheels were round.

4 days ago | Likes 38 Dislikes 1

I think in this case the argument is "360 was used because it's an HCN" vs "360 was used because it's a multiple of 60, and 60 was used because it's an HCN"

4 days ago | Likes 6 Dislikes 1

But are the round wheels superior composite number?

4 days ago | Likes 3 Dislikes 2

I got interested in asking whether or not the Babylonians knew number theory.

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

3 days ago | Likes 1 Dislikes 0

No, we inherited a numerical system and still use it that's the reason. You're attempting to attribute much later Greek mathematics to Babylonian systems. To use your statement: it's akin to saying the ancients used rubber tires because we've found them superior to wood.

4 days ago | Likes 5 Dislikes 7

So... This vid about why 360 makes sense is bullshit!!! Because 360 makes sense dummy! That's your comment?

4 days ago | Likes 2 Dislikes 2

12, 60, 360.

"Why 12 inches?" Math by serf carpenters, no calculators, 2, 3, 4, and 6 divisors

"Why 60 minutes?" Same, add 5, 10 as divisors

"Why 360 degrees?" 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 8, 10, 12... look at the easily arrived at parts of 360

Every time Imgur has the Imperial units discussion and screams "inches don't even make sense!" I want to pull my hair out of my skull and shove it into all of your throats. Yes, metric is better for Terry in accounting 2025. Not for Rodimus the serf in 1435.

4 days ago | Likes 75 Dislikes 6

The inch is fine. The mm/m is very marginally better in a few cases but the inch holds it's own. The hate on the inch is unfounded and unreasonable. Every other imperial unit however, they're all stupid and suck and are bodied by their metric equivalents.

4 days ago | Likes 5 Dislikes 11

You sound like somebody who thinks ancient people were stupid because they never developed electric dynamos. The imperial system was a tool for it's day. It wasn't adopted by slack jawed idiots too foolish to imagine something better, it was a serviceable method for measuring that the average, uneducated, person could practically use. The metric systems real advantage is in standardization (which, incidentally, is why it's been adopted by every civilization (yes, even the US)).

4 days ago | Likes 9 Dislikes 0

Oh yeah, let's just ignore the slug, dumb unit that sucks to use, or the BTU/hr which makes sense for why it came about, but so if the watt which is vastly superior in every way. Or how about the twisted bastard units like the ton? No... Not that ton, the other one.

The inch is a good unit. Solid 8/10. The rest of them suck. I know how any why most of them were created but maybe 2 of them have the same division justification as the inch, the rest are wacky arbitrary nonsense.

4 days ago | Likes 3 Dislikes 0

But the issue with imperial is not the conversion from inch to feet/yard. This is, if you want to use a base-12/base-36 system indeed elegant. However, when you go beyond simple distances imperial becomes utterly useless. In metric there is, just as one example, the beautiful Newton which is kg•m/s². This interchangeability makes metric superior to imperial.

4 days ago | Likes 2 Dislikes 0

Also what is up with measurements smaller than an inch?
A "quarter of an inch"?
How does a normal person write that?
Or a "thou" for smaller stuff?
Which is suddenly in the base 10 system again... ??

4 days ago | Likes 1 Dislikes 0

Imagine that: units created after the industrial revolution and superior tolerances in machining, superior speed and relative position registering devices, etc. those units are all better in metric. Crazy how that do.

The elegance of the unit conversion is not at question. Rodimus didn't have a clue what a Newton was. Newton wasn't born.

3 days ago | Likes 2 Dislikes 1

... is... is it still 1435, though? Or is it 2025? Like, right now. That might be the issue.

3 days ago | Likes 1 Dislikes 0

Yeah, same goes for how Americans write dates "wrong", with the month first. That's how they say it, "it's August 10th today". So they write it 8/10/2025. Nothing wrong with that, so long as you know that's the rule.

4 days ago | Likes 17 Dislikes 4

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4 days ago (deleted Aug 10, 2025 8:33 PM) | Likes 0 Dislikes 0

Go scream at someone else weirdo

4 days ago | Likes 11 Dislikes 3

with digital clocks, i havent heard anyone use 'half past' since i was little.

4 days ago | Likes 7 Dislikes 1

Technology connections has a great video on this!

https://youtu.be/NeopkvAP-ag?si=Jkna0wWp4kiHfWEE

5 hours ago | Likes 1 Dislikes 0

Hello there. I use it all the time. Same with quarter past, quarter till, 5 till, 5 past, etc, etc. Maybe I'm just old-fashioned.

4 days ago | Likes 5 Dislikes 0

I remember reading about the benefits of going to a base 12 system and was mostly convinced, but also it would never happen as base 10 is ubiquitous.

4 days ago | Likes 19 Dislikes 0

If only we were hexadactyl.

4 days ago | Likes 7 Dislikes 0

Many forms of polydactyly are a genetically dominant trait, which means—with a little effort—we could breed a stable 6-fingered humanity!

4 days ago | Likes 2 Dislikes 0

The solution to that, which I read at the time, was to instead count on the three knuckles/joints of each non-thumb finger, which adds up to 12. So 24 total across two hands.

4 days ago | Likes 7 Dislikes 0

If you use segments on both hands it's pretty easy to count up to 144.

3 days ago | Likes 1 Dislikes 0

You can actually get to 72 with two hands if you count the way the Sumerians did. Count the twelves places with each finger on one hand and the ones places with the knuckles or segments on the other hand. So holding up 4 fingers with one hand and indicating 3 with your other hand makes 43 in base 12 (51 in base 10)

3 days ago | Likes 2 Dislikes 0

4 days ago | Likes 2 Dislikes 0