Why an hour is 60 minutues, a minute is 60 seconds?

[jigsawtrading]

Hi folks,

Have you ever wondered why an hour is 60 minutes, a minute is 60 seconds?

Who decided on these time divisions?

 

[MightWeb]

"The division of the hour into 60 minutes and of the minute into 60 seconds comes from the Babylonians who used a sexagesimal (counting in 60s) system for mathematics and astronomy. They derived their number system from the Sumerians who were using it as early as 3500 BC."
- Source: Google

I'd assume the same is true for the hour.

 

[UploadMax]

UploadMax

Interesting, thanks for sharing

 

[natemaingard]

natemaingard

It makes sense, and ends up working out perfectly. Could you imagine if an hour actually lasted longer?

 

[Cookie]

Cookie

Er, cool. I've never really wondered about this, or questioned why minutes and hours are both 60 minutes.

 

[nidhish01]

nidhish01

I wish they had thought about changing 60 into 30,but then again they never had to go to office and face "THE BOSS".

 

[Josh]

That's an interesting one, thanks for the share. I would never have thought the Babylonians! and I've been studying the Babylonian civilisation lately and did not come across that. Clever chappies!

 

[Syadei]

Seems pretty legit to me, this is something that I had never ever thought about before. But I am always happy to learn something new.