Have you ever wondered why there are 24 days in 1 hour, 1 minute, 60 seconds, and there are 60 seconds in 1 minute? This is the answer.Number system is the most widely used man today is the decimal system, namely a base 10 number system. However, to measure the time we use duodesimal system (base 12) and sexadesimal (base 60). This is because the method to divide the day derived from the number system used by the ancient Mediterranean civilizations. At
about 1500 BC, ancient Egyptians used 12-based number system, and they
developed a solar system clock shaped like the letter T is placed on the
ground and divide their time between sunrise and sunset into 12 parts. While
historians argue, the ancient Egyptians use the number system based on
the number of cycles will be based 12 months of the year or it could be
the large number of joints based human finger (3 on each finger,
excluding the thumb) which allows them count to 12 using the thumb .Sundial next generation already represents more or less what we nowcall the "clock". While the division of the night into 12 parts, based on the observations of ancient Egyptian astronomers will the 12 stars in the sky at night.By dividing one day and one night into 12 hours each, then with 24-hour indirect concept is introduced. However, the long days and long nights are not the same, depending on the season (eg summer days are longer than nights). Therefore, the distribution of hours in a day varies according to season. This time the system is called a system of seasonal time. In about the year 147-127 BC, a Greek astronomer named Hipparchus suggested that the number of hours in the day made it just as many as 24 hours, called equinoctial time systems. But the new system is now widely accepted by the discovery of mechanical clocks in Europe in the 14th century.HipparcusEratosthenes (276-194 BC), a Greek astronomer other divide a circle into 60 parts to create a system of geographic latitude. The technique is based on 60-based system used by the Babylonians who settled in Mesopotamia, which, if traced further derived from the system used by the Sumerian civilization around 2000 BC. It is not known with certainty why the use of 60-based number system, but one allegation said to ease the calculation because the number 60 is the smallest number that can be divided up by 10, 12, 15, 20 and 30.EratosthenesA century later, Hipparchus introduced a system of longitude 360 degrees. And in about 130 AD, Claudius Ptolemy divides each degree into 60 parts. The first part is called the minutae primae partes, which means the first minute, the second part is called partes minutae secundae or second minute, and so on. Although there are 60 sections, which used only the first two parts of the course where the first part of a minute, and the second to second. While the remaining 58 are other parts to form a unit of time smaller than the second.This time the system takes centuries to widespread use. Even at the first timepiece that displays the minutes was made first in the 16th century. This time the system used today by our modern humans.
