Why are there 24 hours a day? Why are there 60 minuts in an hour? (why
were thess determined historically).

Dear rapoport-ga;

Thank you for allowing me an opportunity to answer your interesting
question.

It is commonly believed that this dates back to the ancient
Babylonians who used the sexagesimal system based on 60 rather than
10, as ours is today. The number 60 was familiar and comfortable for
them to calculate since they divided the sky into the 12 signs of the
Zodiac, a circle into 360 degrees and the day and night each into 12
hours. It is only logical then that one full day was measured by them
as 24 hours, and quite natural that their first instinct was to
further break down each hour into 60 increments (hours) and to break
down and hour into 60 more (minutes).

This proved to be such an efficient means of measuring time that the
practice has persisted for more than 4000 years.

Below you will find that I have carefully defined my search strategy
for you in the event that you need to search for more information. By
following the same type of searches that I did you may be able to
enhance the research I have provided even further. I hope you find
that that my research exceeds your expectations. If you have any
questions about my research please post a clarification request prior
to rating the answer. Otherwise, I welcome your rating and your final
comments and I look forward to working with you again in the near
future. Thank you for bringing your question to us.

Best regards;
Tutuzdad-ga


INFORMATION SOURCES

BABYLONIAN MATHEMATICS
http://www-groups.dcs.st-and.ac.uk/~history/HistTopics/Babylonian_mathematics.html

BABYLONIA NUMERALS
http://www-groups.dcs.st-and.ac.uk/~history/HistTopics/Babylonian_numerals.html

MADSCI.NET
http://www.madsci.org/
http://www.madsci.org/posts/archives/mar98/890662272.Sh.r.html

HOW STUFF WORKS
http://www.howstuffworks.com/time2.htm



SEARCH STRATEGY


SEARCH ENGINE USED:

Google ://www.google.com


SEARCH TERMS USED:

"Why are there 60 minutes"

It is not entirely true (as in tutuzdad-ga's reply) that a circle has
360 degrees because people were "comfortable with the number 60". They
assigned 360 degrees to a circle because in those days people thought
that 1 year had 360 days.

Dear aamaj-ga;

If you will note in the research I conducted, my answer never states,
as you incorrectly interpreted, "that a circle has 360 degrees because
people were "comfortable with the number 60". Read the answer again.

The information that my research conveys (and correctly so, I might
add), is that the ancient babylonians were already "mathematically"
comfortable with a numerical base of 60 as they were familiar with
it's calculations "DUE TO" the already long established 360 degree
circle, 12 signs of the zodiac, etc. The implication is that it was
only natural for them to gravitate toward the use of the number 60 as
a base means of measuring time. But I'm sure the customer understood
this in spite of your own apparent confusion with the issue.

I invite you to examine the links I have provided as well. Perhaps in
the end more than one person will benefit from my research.

Regards;
tutuzdad-ga