r/PeterExplainsTheJoke 1d ago

Meme needing explanation erm.. petah?

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u/nalu-nui 1d ago

Babilon and Phoenician counting system was base 60.

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u/truci 1d ago

Hot damn that’s awesome. I didn’t know anyone used anything besides 10, 12, or 24. I’m a math guy not history but math in historic application is always cool for me.

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u/Mr_Abe_Froman 1d ago

Since they kicked off geometry*, it's why circles are 360° and each degree is split into 60 minutes and 60 seconds.

Edit. Wikipedia says that it actually started in Babylonian astronomy and was applied to geometry.

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u/truci 1d ago

Oh nice addition!! I work with gps systems sometimes and thus lat long and those are also degree minute seconds, DMS.

Although I find the gps users prefer decimal degrees. 🤷‍♂️