Hacker Newsnew | past | comments | ask | show | jobs | submitlogin

I noticed as a kid that while 60 seconds/minutes seemed odd when we live in a base-10 number system, it was incredibly convenient when dividing into parts: 60 is divisible by 2,3,4,5,6,8,10,12,15,20,30. Always thought that was sort of clever.

24 is similarly divisible by 2,3,4,6,8,12, whereas 25 is only evenly divisible by 5. So those odd-looking "constants" are good for something after all.



Our measures for angles and for time descend from the base 60 Babylonian system, whereas base 10 descends from the ancient Egyptian system.

For dealing with heterogeneous bases, as with measuring in imperial units, take a look at the fraction notation in Fibonacci’s book. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Liber_Abaci#Fibonacci.27s_nota...


60 is divisible by ... 8?




Guidelines | FAQ | Lists | API | Security | Legal | Apply to YC | Contact

Search: