sexagesimal
IPA: sˈɛksʌdʒˈɛsɪmʌɫ
noun
- (mathematics) A fraction involving division by 60; a sixtieth part of something.
- (mathematics) A base-60 number.
adjective
- (mathematics) Of, related to, or based on the number sixty.
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Examples of "sexagesimal" in Sentences
- While base 60 seems like the creation of an extraordinarily fertile imagination, sexagesimal has historical pedigree.
- He has written out tables of factors in a base 60, or sexagesimal, system, and stared in wonder at the patterns they revealed.
- It also doesn't fit into the Babylonians' sexagesimal system that is based on 60 and 12 the same system that gave us 60 minutes in an hour and two sets of 12 hours in a day.
- The Babylonians, who made great advances in math and astronomy, embraced the Sumerian sexagesimal base, and later the Egyptians, followed by the Greeks, based their time-counting methods on the Babylonian way—which is why, to this day, there are 60 seconds in a minute and 60 minutes in an hour.
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