Why do we use base 60 for time and base 10 for everything else. Why has no one decided to integrate it.
Why do we use base 60 for time and base 10 for everything else. Why has no one decided to integrate it.
Thought of this in the shower this morning, if anyone has an answer I'd be very interested!
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12 and 60 divide nicely. A quarter of a 12-hour clock is 3 hours, but in decimal time it'd be 2.5 hours. A third is 4 hours in base 12, but some gross 3.33 repeating in decimal.
I just don't like it.
That's the same argument for (some) Imperial measurements, but people converted to metric anyways.
Metric isn't better because it uses 10, it's better because it uses the same base for everything. A measurement system (and number system) that uses 12 for everything would be better than both imperial and metric.
I think the benefit of having metric in base 10 rather than 12 is that it matches our numeric base system.
123mm is 12.3cm and 1.23dm and 0.123m.
Converting things in base 12 would be a bit more work, not sure it'd be worth it.
We're not really going around converting time very often.