The Aztecs or Mayans? No, I guess that wouldn't make sense.
Although they may have, I doubt they had much of an influence on
the current mathematical memes.
Oh no, I sense a need to delve into books coming up....maybe a good
website?
eEc
> ----------
> From: Eric Boyd[SMTP:6ceb3@qlink.queensu.ca]
> Reply To: virus@lucifer.com
> Sent: Tuesday, June 16, 1998 6:08 AM
> To: virus@lucifer.com
> Subject: Re: virus: math versus engineering
>
> Hi,
>
> "Chelstad, Erik" <chelste@data-io.com> asks:
> > Why does a circle have 360 degrees?
>
> I believe the original cause was a 360 calender. Now, the only thing
> keeping such a silly system alive is the epidemology of memes... in
> other
> words, it's a QWERTY thing!
>
> From a pure math standpoint, I think we should abolish degrees and
> just
> teach radians, the "natural" angle measurement system. (radians are
> natural in the same way that e=2.718281828[...] is the "natural"
> exponential base. Strange universe we live in, eh?)
>
> But then, from an engineering standpoint, nobody wants to work with
> fractions of Pi... especially me!
>
> ERiC
>