Sexagesimal System

What is Sexagesimal System?

Sexagesimal system is a numeral system with the number sixty as base. It is widely used in measuring angles, time, and geographical coordinates.

Why 60 is used as a base number in sexagesimal system?

Actual reason to use 60 as base number is uncertain but approximations are made that it used as it is a highly composite number which facilitates its division in various factors easier.

What are some other names for sexagesimal system?

Sexagesimal System is also known as the Sexagenary System or the base 60 numeral system.

Why the use of sexagesimal system decreased nowadays?

While sexagesimal system remains in use for certain applications such as time and angle measurements, but other numeral systems such as the decimal system (base-10) and binary system (base-2) are more prevalent nowadays due to their compatibility with digital computing.

Give example of where sexagesimal system is used today?

Most common example of sexagesimal system is found in time measurement, where a complete day is divided into 24 hours, one hour into 60 minutes and one minute into 60 seconds.

How do you convert degrees to minutes and minutes to seconds?

Given conversions achieved using the given relation:

• 1 degree = 60 minutes
• 1 minute = 60 seconds

Sexagesimal System is a numeral system used for measuring time, angles and geographical coordinates based on the number 60. It is one of the ancient numeral systems. In the sexagesimal numeral system, a unit of the concerned physical quantity is divided into 60 equal divisions. The reason to use the number 60 is that it has multiple divisors, making it convenient to create divisions of the physical quantity such as hour, minute, degree, etc.

In modern world, the sexagesimal system is mostly replaced by the decimal system as it is more convenient and practical. But, it is still prevalent in measurements involving angles, time, longitude and latitude.

In this article, we will learn about the sexagesimal system, reasons to use 60 as the base number, examples where it is used, practice questions and related frequently asked questions.